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I'm 12. I code on a $150 phone. I want to start a newsletter for devs like me. Roast my idea.

Harun - solo dev on October 07, 2026

Most tech newsletters are written for developers with M3 MacBooks, gigabit fiber, and $200/month tool budgets. I don't have any of those. I'm 12, ...
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Jean-Sebastien Beaulieu •

Please stop using the headline that you're twelve. Your soul is much older than this, and it's starting to become irrelevant. In my opinion, your perspective and talent are what matter. You are really talented and obviously un surdoué. I love this article; I feel it's much less repetitive and gets to the point a lot faster. This is perfect for me, as I read at least 30 to 40 articles a day. Thank you for changing your format. It's nice seeing your evolution—please keep pushing!

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Harun - solo dev •

jean-sébastien, this is one of the most meaningful things anyone has said to me. thank you.

i hear you loud and clear. the "12-year-old" hook got me in the door, but you're right: the work, the perspective, and the actual engineering are what need to carry the weight now. i'm retiring the age headline moving forward and letting the code and the content speak for themselves.

and merci beaucoup for the kind words. knowing that this concise, evidence-based format respects your time as someone who reads dozens of articles a day is the exact validation i needed.

i'm shifting focus entirely to the work trace. thank you for seeing that, and for pushing me to evolve. 🐯

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Jean-Sebastien Beaulieu •

Your awsome let goooo this his how anyone should react to critic none saying accepting evreything blindly but and perspective input from other his a skill that a lot of develloper have not comprehend how to deal whit i cannot wait to work on this engine whit you this going to be awsome

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EffessDev • • Edited

I really want to see your workflow, because I am also stuck with a budget phone when I am in college. Would you mind explaining it or writing a post about it?

About the newsletter idea, becuase you said that you need a honest opinion, I think its its a good idea if you get some audience. You just need to make sure you aren't spending too much time on it (just my opinion, I may be wrong).

Also, slightly skeptical on you being a 12 year old building all of that i saw on your website on a $150 phone. But i would really love to know how you do it.

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Harun - solo dev •

appreciate the honest feedback! you're totally right about time management — that's exactly why i'm limiting the newsletter to just two sections a week so it stays sustainable and doesn't become a chore.

regarding the workflow: yes! i'm actually planning to write a detailed breakdown of my entire mobile-first dev setup (the exact apps, editors, and tricks i use to code, test, and deploy entirely on a $150 phone) as a standalone post soon.

stay tuned for that, and thanks for the support! 🐯

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EffessDev •

Yes! I desperately need your workflow tutorial. I'd appreciate it if you could write one.

If you use VS Code in GitHub Codespaces or something, there is a VS Code extension that I built that you might like, specifically made for people who cannot pay $20/month for an AI subscription (I mean, myself):

What do you think about this one? Is it good enough for your newsletter?

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Harun - solo dev •

bro, this is exactly the kind of tool Off Radar was made for! 🐯

a vscode extension that bridges free chatbots and applies diffs in one click is a massive win for anyone on a budget. consider it officially locked in for issue 1 of the newsletter.

and yes, the workflow tutorial is coming! i’m putting together a detailed breakdown of my entire mobile-first dev setup (how i code, test, and deploy entirely on a $150 phone without heavy local builds).

thanks for building this and for the support. we’re going to ship something great. 🤝

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EffessDev •

Wow! Thank you so much 🥹 I thought you wouldn't like it because it required VS Code. Waiting for the tutorial!

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Harun - solo dev •

not at all! if it solves a real problem for budget devs, it’s exactly what off radar is for.

vscode is the standard, so a tool that makes free ai accessible and applies diffs in one click is a massive win. the workflow tutorial is in the works! 🐯

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Puneet-Kumar2010 •

bro honestly, i think the idea is really good. the $150 phone + 3G angle makes it different from the usual dev newsletters.

keep going with it and ship that first issue. i’d definitely be interested to see where you take it. 🤝🐯

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Harun - solo dev •

appreciate you bro. knowing you’d actually read it is the exact validation i needed to stop overthinking and just ship issue 1 next week.

we’re both in the trenches building for the real world, not the hype. let’s keep pushing. 🤝🐯

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Puneet-Kumar2010 •

100% bro 🤝🐯 just ship it and see what happens. rooting for you and Off Radar. keep pushing!

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Harun - solo dev •

let's go! 🤝🐯

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Harun - solo dev •

UPDATE: You asked for the workflow breakdown, and I delivered. 🐯

Issue 02 of Off Radar is now live, and it’s entirely dedicated to the raw evidence of how I ship code from a $150 phone on 3G.

It covers:

  • The exact mobile-first stack that survives the constraints
  • What breaks (heavy frameworks) vs. what works (Vanilla JS, small WASM)
  • A deep dive into ReptClip, a $0 AI workflow tool built by a peer

Read the full workflow breakdown here: offradar.netlify.app/#/issue/2

Thank you all for the incredible, high-signal feedback. This is exactly why I build in public.

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Anatolii Maltsev •

I’d care less about the "$150 phone" as a hook and more about the evidence: what works, what breaks, how you test it, and which tools are genuinely usable under those constraints.

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Harun - solo dev •

anatolii, you are 100% right. this is the exact feedback i needed.

the "$150 phone" shouldn't just be a hook; it needs to be the rigorous testing environment. that’s exactly what i’m focusing on for issue 1: the raw evidence.

i’m writing a detailed breakdown of my actual workflow: the specific tools that survive the constraints, the exact points where heavy frameworks break on mobile, and the step-by-step process of how i test and deploy without a local build step.

no fluff, just the evidence of what actually works under those constraints. thank you for pushing me to make the content as substantive as the premise. 🐯

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getsetpixel •

I genuinely would read this

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Owen Ross •

I started coding on a iPad because my school wouldn’t allow laptops

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Harun - solo dev •

owen, that is the exact reality off radar is built for!

whether it's an ipad at school or a $150 android at home, constraints are just the starting line, not the finish line. glad to have you in the community. 🐯