Hi! It's Alex, creator of Refactoring. Guru. A few weeks ago, I emailed you about my new project Git By Bit. This is its origin story: how an indie dev with no team, no ad budget, and one aging traffic source tried to build something useful while the dev world was being torn and rearranged all around the globe.

If you've ever wanted to launch something of your own, you may find useful insights into how to pick an idea and what to consider when you begin, along with a few real numbers. Quick takeaways: start by finding users first, pretend the product exists and plan next steps, act immediately instead of coding, and use your unfair advantage before others do. Over the last 15 years, I built a free Git course that runs inside your code editor (VS Code, Cursor, etc.)—a practical refresher with real tools.

In winter 2023, I decided a new educational product was needed. Chat GPT 3.5 made me doubt purely info-based products, but guided practice in a real IDE still had value. I chose VS Code because it’s open‑source, free, and popular, and the course now works in all its forks.

The strategy was clear: copy what worked before, bet on SEO, and keep distribution first. The result is Git By Bit, a free, no‑ad, practice‑based Git course that still runs online after 15 years.