It's been a while since I last published anything here on CoderLegion.
I didn't stop building, I just got so deep into projects that writing took a back seat. So I thought it was time to share what I've been working on over the past few months.
🚀 Building Afia9jaVTU
One of the biggest projects I've worked on recently is Afia9jaVTU.
The goal wasn't just to create another VTU platform. I wanted to build something that could serve as a reliable foundation for digital services like airtime purchases, data subscriptions, wallet management, virtual accounts, bill payments, and more.
Working on it pushed me to think beyond writing APIs. I had to consider system architecture, payment reliability, background jobs, user experience, and how to build software that can scale.
It reminded me that software engineering is just as much about solving business problems as it is about writing clean code.
💳 Building ALATPay for Laravel
Another project that kept me busy was creating ALATPay for Laravel.
I noticed there wasn't a modern Laravel package that made integrating ALATPay straightforward for Laravel developers.
So I built one.
The package handles much of the repetitive work developers face when integrating payments, allowing them to focus on their applications instead of boilerplate integration code.
Building an open-source package is a different experience from building client software.
You have to think about:
- Developer experience
- Documentation
- Backward compatibility
- Clean APIs
- Long term maintenance
It's a challenge I genuinely enjoyed.
🌐 Solving CGNAT Problems with CGNAT Inspector
If you've ever hosted services from home, you've probably encountered CGNAT.
It can be frustrating trying to figure out why port forwarding simply refuses to work.
That's why I built CGNAT Inspector.
The goal is simple:
Help developers and homelab enthusiasts quickly determine whether they're behind Carrier Grade NAT and understand what that means for self-hosting.
Sometimes the best projects come from solving your own problems.
Lately I've also been experimenting with building tools specifically for developers.
Small utilities.
Automation.
CLI ideas.
Infrastructure helpers.
Things that remove friction from everyday development.
Not every experiment becomes a finished product, but every experiment teaches something valuable.
🏢 Growing Royal Bcode Ventures
Outside open source, I've also been investing a lot of time into growing Royal Bcode Ventures (RBV).
Running a software company is a completely different challenge from writing software.
You're thinking about:
- Finding clients
- Delivering projects
- Infrastructure
- Operations
- Customer support
- Marketing
- Finance
- Team growth
It has taught me that building a business requires a very different mindset from building applications.
Both are difficult but still rewarding.
📡 Working on SmartAlert-T (SAT)
Another exciting project is SmartAlert-T (SAT).
The vision is to build a platform focused on intelligent monitoring and alerting.
Whether it's servers, infrastructure, or critical systems, timely notifications can make all the difference.
It's still evolving, but I'm excited about where it's headed.
📚 What I've Learned
Looking back, one thing stands out.
The best way to improve as a developer isn't by following every new trend.
It's by building.
Real products.
Real tools.
Real businesses.
Every project exposes new problems, and solving those problems teaches lessons no tutorial can.
What's Next?
I'm planning to become much more active here on CoderLegion again.
I'll be sharing:
- Behind the scenes architecture decisions
- Laravel tips
- Open-source projects
- Infrastructure experiments
- Lessons from running a software business
- Things that failed (because those are often the most educational)
If you've also been building something interesting, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
Let's keep building.
