Sidequesting

October 25, 2026 · 3 min read

At the beginning of this year and actually at the end of q3 of last year, I have noticed a shift in myself and it really just started with AI being able to write code at a junior software engineer level around November of last year (2025). When I saw AI writing code at that level, (and this was using Augment inside VSCode, ball-knowers know) I really saw magic at work. At that time, I was still a bit skeptical but the wheels in my head were turning. At that time, I haven’t touched any side projects in the longest time as well.

I had went on my annual Asia trip to Japan/Korea, all ready to unwind and soak in the freshest and soul cleansing of Japanese hot spring onsen water. Onsens, incredible food, city skylines, amazing city infrastructure and transportation. And all I could think about was prompting AI to build me stuff. The back of my head, the hamster wheel was churning. I would go to the konbini (convenience store) and just walk in a daydream-like daze, the gears just running in my head.

I was excited about the possibilities but I was supposed to relax. Vacation mode. IN JAPAN. Why could I not stop thinking about my work?

So I wrote down ideas. I wrote down this and that and how this would connect to that, this would go here, that would go there. I wrote and imagine what endless possibilities there were and how they can built. And I would build them when I get back.

So I got back in the new year and started paying for Cursor and started building HoopSim. I always wanted a fantasy bball anything that I can just play with. The early days were tough. We were still on opus 3/4 or something at the time (Jan 2026ish?) and I was still a baby prompter swimming in slop code. Good thing I can grit my teeth and draw from my years of startup experience and just push through all these unknown waters with ease.

As I was getting better at prompting, utilizing AI as a driver, guiding it from feature to feature and acting as technical lead of an entire web app from backend to infrastructure to frontend and design, AI itself was getting better with every new model release, new technology that can make better use of the new models, new techniques that get more out of the new models. It was like a virus spreading everywhere. My day job changed overnight. I was handcrafting code just a few months ago and at that moment, I basically stopped doing that and gave the reins over to AI. It was surreal and real at the same time.

Hoopsim was at a point that maybe I can show it off to people. So I did. And I am not one to show off things. But nothing ventured, nothing gained right? With all the nerve, I can muster I went to show it off to a group of friends. Dear friends really. Ball knowers too. Thank the lovely heavens they didn’t laugh (you know who you are). From there, one of the group had asked to make something for his website. Resume builder you say? I had no idea how to do it, but I did know that I had the best magic tricks known to software engineers and I was already doing these tricks for myself. How about others?

Do you ever doubt yourself because you don’t know? I do it all the time. This was another blind flight into the unknown. Just grit your teeth and plunge forward.

Born from there was NurseRemotely’s AI Resume builder (link here for all nurses that want to get remote jobs, it’s doable, ask Philip Layog Remote Nurse Extraordinaire). AI and myself are responsible. You really can just do things. Now with AI, you can do it faster and cheaper.

I really like this new place we are at. My side quests are up 100%. I really never knew what I was capable of until I started acting with the audacity of a shooting star. Just keep going even if you don’t know where you are heading.