This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Crispective

Whoa, what’s up with the unicorns and fire emoji reactions? This feels like Xanga, but for developers. A developer’s diary, basically.

It takes me back to the days when I was deeply into Xanga, writing out my thoughts, reading my friends’ posts, leaving them props, receiving props.

Sigh. Simpler times.

But real talk:

I’ve been struggling with imposter syndrome.

Why am I even here? I barely know how to code. Just fragments, bits and pieces I’ve picked up along the way from doing SheCodes. Not nearly enough practice to say I belong here.

And yet… with tools like Bolt, I’ve been building things. Real things.

Which makes me wonder:

Is it a waste of time for someone like me to keep banging my head against the wall learning traditional coding, when I could just prompt an idea and watch it come to life?

Do I belong in this space if I didn’t earn it the hard way?

Sometimes I feel like I’m cheating. Like I’m doing something wrong.
Earlier today, while washing dishes, that thought hit me again. And then something strange and simple crossed my mind:

• Is it cheating if I use scissors to cut construction paper instead of tearing it by hand?

• Is it cheating if I use a paper cutter instead of scissors to get more precise and straighter cuts faster?

No.
A scissor is a tool.
A paper cutter is a tool.
Tearing paper by hand is also valid. It’s just what you use when you don’t have access to the others.

Bolt is a tool.
Just like that.
It helps people, especially people like me build faster, dream bigger, and feel a little more capable.

So maybe the point isn’t to prove myself by doing everything the “hard” way.
Maybe it’s about what I create, and how I grow from there.
Maybe it’s about using the tools available to express what’s inside me and sharing that, even if I still feel like a beginner. I’ll learn as I go, right? It’s art, basically. It’s a way of communicating my thoughts and ideas by prototyping. I’m a creative builder, not a coder.

Still… I’m curious why do we still use Markdown here?

With all the developer talent in the room, couldn’t we have built something more intuitive by now? Or is this some kind of secret handshake like, “You must master Markdown to sit with us”?

Maybe that’s part of it, too.
Not just building with tools, but learning the languages, the rituals, the culture.

And maybe, just maybe, that’s not a wall meant to keep people out.
Maybe it’s just one more thing we’re invited to pick up… when we’re ready.

And

Exciting update- another milestone for my Bolt Hackathon project, AI-Ding!

I submitted it to the Chrome Web Store exactly one week ago, on the evening of July 4th. The very next day, I got a rejection email. Something about a Privacy Policy violation. I panicked. I wasn’t collecting any user data, so how could that be?

After digging in, I realized the issue wasn’t about that at all. It was just I copied and pasted a broken Privacy Policy link. I fixed it right away and resubmitted.

Then came the waiting. Days passed. Nearly a week. I kept refreshing, wondering why the rejection came so fast but the approval was taking forever. Just for fun, I typed “AI-Ding” into the Chrome Web Store…

And boom! There it was. LIVE. Apparently, it had been approved since Monday, the 7th!

So if you’re a first-time Chrome extension developer like me and you’re anxiously waiting for that approval email—don’t panic. You might already be live and not even know it.

Turns out, Google will definitely email you if your extension gets rejected or taken down, but they might not notify you when it gets approved if you’ve disabled notification emails. I just didn’t want more junk mail in my inbox, but I’ve since turned those notifications back on. Lesson learned.

Anyway, my extension is officially in the chrome store now!
I’d love it if you could check it out and share your honest feedback with me? Please and thank you

This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Crispective