Three Years Later, I Finally Submitted My Frontend Mentor Challenge

I Finally Submitted a Frontend Mentor Challenge I Started in 2023 Three years, one old project, one tablet, and a very different version of me. In 2023, I did something that probably felt very small at the time. I started a Frontend Mentor challenge. I was still very early in my journey with frontend development. I was learning, experimenting, breaking things, fixing them, and trying to understand how websites were actually built. And here's the funny part: I didn't even have my own laptop. I built the project using my dad's tablet. Yes, a tablet. I was determined enough to make it work. I remember opening my code, working through the design, trying to make the page look like the challenge, and learning things along the way. But I didn't finish it. Or rather... I didn't submit it. Life moved on. I continued learning frontend development. I started working on other projects. I learned more HTML and CSS. Eventually I moved into JavaScript and started exploring backend development too. That old challenge just became one of those unfinished things sitting somewhere in my past. Fast forward to 2026 During my SIWES, I was given an assignment at my training center. The assignment was related to Frontend Mentor. When I saw it, I immediately remembered the old challenge. That project from 2023. The one I had built on my dad's tablet. The one I never submitted. And I thought: "Why don't I finally finish it?" So I went back to it. Coming back to old code is weird One of the strangest experiences as a developer is looking at code you wrote years ago. You see things you used to think were difficult. You see decisions you would make differently now. You notice mistakes that you didn't even realize were mistakes. And sometimes you just stare at something and think: "Why did I write it like this?" But that's actually one of the best ways to see your growth. The code wasn't necessarily terrible. I had just changed. The developer who started that project in 2023 wasn't the same developer who returned to it in 2026. The project became more than a challenge When I finally worked on it again, I wasn't just trying to complete an old Frontend Mentor assignment. I was comparing two versions of myself. 2023 me Learning the basics Figuring out CSS Working with limited resources Building on a tablet Trying to understand how everything worked 2026 me More comfortable with HTML and CSS Learning JavaScript Working with Git and GitHub Building full-stack projects Thinking about responsive design differently Understanding code structure better More comfortable debugging problems And the funny thing is... The project hadn't changed. I had. I finally submitted it After all those years, I finally submitted the challenge. Not in 2023. Not in 2024. Not in 2025. 2026. Three years after I started it. And honestly, I'm glad I didn't delete it. Because if I had, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to see how much I had grown. Finish the old projects sometimes There's a lesson I'm taking from this. As developers, we're always looking forward. The next tutorial. The next framework. The next project. The next challenge. The next thing we need to learn. But sometimes it's worth looking backward. Open an old project. Read your old code. Run it again. See what you understand now that you didn't understand then. You might be surprised. Not because the old project is amazing. But because you're no longer the person who built it. From a tablet to where I am now The part that makes me smile the most is remembering that I built that first version using my dad's tablet. At the time, I didn't have all the resources I have now. But I had curiosity. And I had the willingness to try. Three years later, I'm still here. Still learning. Still building. Still breaking things. Still fixing things. Still trying to become a better developer. And that old Frontend Mentor challenge? It finally has a submission. Better late than never. What about you? Do you have an old project sitting somewhere that you never finished? Maybe you should open it again. You might not just finish the project. You might discover how much you've grown.