Hi everyone, I’m an Australian solo founder building Forge, a personal AI platform focused on persistent knowledge, evidence-based reasoning and keeping the owner in control.

The question behind it is: how can an assistant become more useful over time while keeping its knowledge traceable, its mistakes correctable and consequential changes subject to human approval?

I’m developing it in Python with a modular, service-based architecture. There’s working code covering knowledge storage, retrieval, evidence handling and reasoning, but it’s still under development. My immediate focus is reliability, testing and bringing the pieces into dependable everyday use.

My background is in commercial fishing. I started learning software development through this project, initially working on an Android phone with Termux. I use AI coding assistants extensively, and I’m putting serious effort into understanding and verifying the results.

I’d like to connect with someone experienced in software architecture, AI systems or taking an ambitious prototype towards a maintainable product. An occasional conversation would be valuable—someone who can challenge my assumptions, spot unnecessary complexity and help me judge what deserves attention next.

I’m looking for perspective and honest criticism, rather than someone to build it for me. I can bring focused questions, diagrams and small, sanitised examples without sharing the full private codebase.

If that sounds interesting, I’d be very appreciative of a comment or message. Recommendations for communities where this kind of mentoring happens would also be welcome.

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone!

I'm learning Python and exploring how I can turn my skills into a small freelancing business. I'm particularly interested in Python automation, Google Sheets automation, and simple workflow automation for small businesses.

I don't want to jump into freelancing without understanding what clients actually need. My plan is to learn by building practical projects, create a portfolio, and gradually start looking for clients.

Some services I'm considering learning to provide are:

- Google Sheets automation: Automating repetitive spreadsheet tasks, reports, data cleaning, and calculations.

- Python scripts: Automating repetitive file operations, CSV/Excel processing, and routine data tasks.

- Workflow automation: Connecting tools and reducing manual work where APIs or approved integrations are available.

- Data processing: Cleaning, organizing, and transforming business data into useful reports.

I'm still developing my skills, so I want to focus on solving real problems rather than claiming expertise I don't have.

I'd really appreciate advice from people who have experience with Python or automation freelancing.

A few questions:

1. Is Python + Google Sheets automation a realistic niche for a beginner freelancer?

2. What specific problems do small businesses actually pay freelancers to solve in this area?

3. Which skills should I learn first: Python, Google Apps Script, Google Sheets formulas, APIs, or SQL?

4. What 3–5 portfolio projects would help demonstrate practical skills to potential clients?

5. How difficult is it to get the first paying client, and which platforms or methods are worth trying?

6. What mistakes should a beginner avoid when starting out?

I'm not expecting instant money. I want to build useful skills, deliver reliable work, and grow gradually.

If you've tried this path yourself, I'd love to hear what worked, what didn't, and what you would do differently if you were starting again.

Thanks for reading!

I built a python debugger specifically for learning data structures and algorithms.

It draws the state of the program at each line. It's an actual debugger that runs with the code, so the results are deterministic and show the real state.

Like a normal debugger, it lets you inspect stack frames, pointers, and objects. But instead of showing them as raw values, it draws every data structure in its own way. It knows how to draw all the common data structures like trees, graphs, queues, stacks, linked lists, etc.

This should be helpful for understanding, debugging, and verifying your code.

You can try it on popular interview problems (write your code or paste from the "Solutions" tab).

Everything is free. Feedback would be really appreciated. Let me know what you think.

link