Hello. This was the first post I wrote after building my portfolio site, Sungblab. I want to trace how I went from a student who loved hardware to someone interested in web development and AI.
The Early Sungblab
I had already used the name Sungblab before this site. In eighth grade, I made a site with basic HTML and Bootstrap. The layout was strange and the content was thin, but I was proud simply because I had built a website myself.
A Childhood Curiosity about Technology
My story began even earlier. I loved hardware as a child, taking apart and rebuilding toys and machines around the house. If my parents gave me a flip phone, I could hold it all day. A friend even remembers me drawing a laptop in a sketchbook and pretending to type on it in kindergarten.
Growing Up with Smartphones
I got my first smartphone in third grade: a SIM-free Samsung Galaxy S2 with about 16GB of storage. My next phone was a Galaxy Note 3, and that was when I started experimenting with custom ROMs, TWRP, and rooting. In fifth grade I got a Galaxy S7 Edge and tried rooting and overclocking during the last period when custom ROMs were especially popular.
Discovering Computer Hardware
I also wanted a computer badly. In fourth grade I used my siblings' computer, which had something like an Intel Celeron G1850. In fifth grade, I saved allowance to secretly buy a GTX 1050 Ti for 120,000 won, an i5-4690, and two 8GB RAM sticks so I could play PUBG. Later I built systems with a Ryzen 5 3500X and GTX 1660, then a Ryzen 5 5600X and RTX 3070. I never visited a computer shop; I researched and fixed everything online, sometimes helping friends with their computers too.
Turning toward Software
Until middle school I was mainly interested in hardware. That changed in ninth grade, when ChatGPT was first released to the public in 2022. It felt like seeing a new world. I started making websites and wondered whether software and AI might offer an even more interesting future.
Moving into Web Development
I originally started programming because I wanted to make games. Unreal Engine, the Windows API, and C++ were too difficult to start with, so I moved to the web. In high school I began working seriously with Python and web development.
Now and Next
In my first year of high school, I used ChatGPT in daily life and while coding, and became more interested. In 2024 I founded the Codelab programming club and built projects with its members. You can see them on the club website.
I was not initially interested in React or Next.js. I simply liked HTML. But after using Django and Flask on the backend, I decided to try React. The “React is the best” song by Coding Apple helped convince me. When I learned that Next.js supported SSR, I decided to use it for this portfolio and blog.
Meeting AI
Claude made coding and learning more convenient, and I also started using AI in daily life. Experimenting with Meta's Llama led me to imagine a future working with software and artificial intelligence.
Closing
Looking back, I started with the curiosity to take apart hardware, moved through web development, and now combine AI with modern web technologies. This site is a result of that process and a place to record what I build and learn next.
There is still plenty to improve, but I want to keep growing by building things directly, failing, and fixing them again.