Build, Don’t Borrow: Why You Should Stop Using Tools and Start Creating Them

Software used to be personal, something you built for yourself to learn, experiment, and share.
Today, in a world overflowing with ready-made tools, we’ve traded creation for convenience. We use, subscribe, and depend, forgetting the power of building our own.

In this talk, we’ll explore how making your own tools gives you control, clarity, and creativity. We’ll discuss how personal software isn’t just about cost-saving, it’s about understanding the stack, owning your data, and shaping your ideas without limits.

We’ll walk through how I built a reverse tunneling server from scratch, not to replace existing tools, but to rediscover how they work beneath the surface. From there, we’ll deconstruct popular developer tools and learn how to recreate lightweight versions for personal use, gaining insight, flexibility, and independence in the process.

My goal is that attendees will leave with a mindset and a roadmap to build instead of borrow, understanding how crafting your own tools deepens technical intuition, improves problem-solving, and opens doors to creating something truly original.

• Why you should build your own whenever you can.

• How to create alternatives to popular tools in little time.

• How building your own helps open-source grow.

• When to build vs. when to use existing tools.

• Why personal tools lead to better control, learning, and innovation.