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The Modern Coder

Programmer & YouTuber building LearnGit.io

My name is Jack Lot Raghav, I'm a tech industry professional (ex Amazon) & growing YouTuber (27k @themoderncoder) building an online business (LearnGit.io). In this newsletter, I'll be sharing monthly technical & business insights as I strive for self-employment.

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Featured Post

It's almost time...

We've gained a couple hundred new readers in the past few months, so I thought this could be a good time to revisit some of my favorite stories: ➡️ In my latest newsletter, I talk about how I got started in web development, and shared some of my early designs. ➡️ Here's one of my personal favorites: I share the story of investing in a private office space, and with a behind-the-scenes video, I show how I built out the space. ➡️ Lastly, from my very first waitlist newsletter, I explain the...

26 days ago • 1 min read

I started building websites when I was a teenager, sometime around 2007. In the beginning, I did what most people did: created a file called index.html, threw in some basic tags, and added CSS directly to the HEAD. People find their way into programming careers via all sorts of avenues. My on-ramp was website building. As my interest in web development grew, so did my desire to make my websites flashier and more complex. That's when I found the crown jewel of Window's Vista-era software:...

about 2 months ago • 2 min read

Last month the online business that I'm building, LearnGit.io, went into early access. I want to thank you all for your support! Over 20 people took the leap and signed up (detailed numbers at the end of the newsletter). I'm grateful for the support. It feels like I'm running a real business now! Speaking of real businesses: Starting in this newsletter, I'll be sharing some numbers behind LearnGit.io — things like customer signups, revenue, expenses, etc. I can't promise I'll continue this...

3 months ago • 4 min read

Here Goes Nothing Happy 2024! It's hard to believe another year has passed. Not so long ago — May 2023, to be exact — I was announcing to my YouTube channel that I was in the midst of a brand-new project. That project is LearnGit.io. As of today, it's live for the world to see. You'll find more information about that at the end of this newsletter. But before I could get to the launch, I hit some last-minute hiccups. If you've been following this newsletter, you know that my white whale has...

4 months ago • 2 min read

When I first announced I was working on LearnGit.io back in May, I was sure launching by the end of 2023 was an achievable goal. Seven months later, the only thing stopping me from achieving that goal is (predictably!) bureaucracy. Bureaucracy If you've been following my weekly updates on Instagram, YouTube or X (more about that below), you know I've formed a business, The Modern Coder Group LLC, to own and operate LearnGit.io. I am the sole proprietor, and forming a limited-liability company...

5 months ago • 3 min read
Cartoon style icon of a desk with a monitor

I'm not going to make it, but maybe that's for the best You saw the title, and it's true. I will not finish building my business, LearnGit.io, by the end of 2023, BUT that doesn't mean I won't be launching before the end of the year. But wait, those two statements are contradictory, so what gives? Transparency The goal of these newsletters is to document my life as a software engineering manager who quit his job at a large FAANG company to start a business. Managing the emotional toll this...

6 months ago • 3 min read

Come Hell or High Water. In This Case, Water For much of September I wasn't at my desk. In fact, I wasn't even in the same country as my desk. I was enjoying my honeymoon in Italy and Switzerland with my wife. In Lake Como, Italy Besides a much needed break from the craziness of NYC, traveling gave me a chance to get some rest. As some of you may know, I have been building a Git training business called LearnGit.io, and prior to our trip my mental state had been easily derailed by obsessing...

7 months ago • 2 min read

Deep in the Weeds For much of August I've been deep in the weeds working through my LearnGit.io to-do list. Among those items: Creating reusable animation templates using Apple Motion (sneak peek below) Configuring my backend infrastructure through AWS Amplify Continuing my monthly YouTube upload schedule (latest video) Tracking down extra plywood tiles for my video backdrop (I didn't order enough 🤦) And so much more... With any large project, the journey to completion includes blocks of...

8 months ago • 2 min read
Graphical representation of the Git tree appearing from a treasure chest

Finding My Niche It's no secret that there are many existing resources for learning Git: courses on CodeAcademy, countless blog posts, free ebooks and more. But they're all missing one thing - animated visuals. So many Git operations involve moving things from one place to another: add a file to the staging area, branch off and start a feature, rewind history, grow the commit tree. The flowing nature of Git begs for a teaching method that highlights the moving pieces and parts. Back in 2017,...

9 months ago • 2 min read

Going all in, and managing the fear Lately, the biggest hurdle in building LearnGit.io hasn't been technical, but mental. Since quitting my job at Amazon back in summer 2022, I've been wrestling with my identity: Am I just a guy taking a break from his lucrative tech job, or am I an entrepreneur fully invested in doing something different with his career? This month, I took a leap of faith. It starts with a realization: businesses require investment to grow. That investment can be time, money...

10 months ago • 2 min read
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