Building a Personal Blog as a Backend Developer: My Journey into Frontend Simplicity

Transitioning from a .NET backend development background to creating a publicly accessible website presented a new and exciting challenge. Typically, my work revolves around intricate server-side systems that operate behind the scenes, so venturing into front-end development was a refreshing departure.

My goal was to establish a straightforward, lightweight platform where I could share insights, thoughts, and showcase some reusable libraries I’ve developed over time. For this purpose, I opted for 11ty (Eleventy), primarily due to its speed, flexibility, and minimalistic approach—making it an ideal choice for a developer seeking simplicity without sacrificing performance.

Throughout this project, I gained valuable experience and satisfaction in building something tangible from scratch. It provides a nice contrast to my usual tasks, which often involve optimizing memory management, troubleshooting race conditions, and handling complex system behaviors.

Today, I’m excited to share my work: the ByteAether Blog. Feel free to explore the site, and I’ve included the Lighthouse performance benchmarks for those interested in the technical aspects.

If you’re a developer considering a personal project or just curious about frontend frameworks, I hope my journey inspires you to dive in and experiment with lightweight static site generators. Happy coding!