Building for the joy of building

Johanna Larsson, a software engineer and speaker, is building a new uptime monitoring service driven by passion and joy, exemplifying the importance of personal fulfillment in software development. The project, which she describes as ‘so much fun to build,’ aims to be reliable and low-cost, with plans to share learnings publicly.

Larsson’s current project is an opinionated uptime monitoring service that uses multi-probe voting, retries, and provides granular metrics, with a resilient Elixir backend supported by PostgresQL and Clickhouse. The service includes features like integrated status pages and resilient probes that can catch up after outages.

She emphasizes that her motivation stems from the joy of creating, not commercial success or open source contribution. Larsson has been building toy projects for years, sharing only minimal details publicly, and values the process of making tools that are useful and fun for herself.

The project aims to keep operating costs low enough to offer the service for free to most users, which involves complex design decisions around reliability and cost-efficiency. She plans to write about her learnings and open source some libraries related to the project.

Why It Matters

This development highlights a broader perspective on software creation—prioritizing personal fulfillment and joy over commercial or open-source contributions. It underscores the importance of passion-driven projects in fostering innovation, resilience, and sustained engagement among developers.

Larsson’s approach demonstrates that meaningful, enjoyable building can produce valuable tools, inspiring other developers to pursue projects motivated by personal interest and satisfaction rather than solely market or community recognition.

Background

Larsson’s journey into coding was unconventional, starting with limited internet access and self-teaching through books. Over 14 years, she has maintained a consistent passion for building, often focusing on personal projects rather than open source contributions. Her current project reflects this long-standing approach—creating for enjoyment, with a focus on reliability and low cost.

This ongoing development aligns with a broader movement among developers valuing intrinsic motivation and personal interest as drivers for innovation and sustained engagement in technology.

“It’s so much fun to build!”

— Johanna Larsson

“I’ll keep building things that are useful to me. Looking forward to the next 20 years!”

— Johanna Larsson

What Remains Unclear

It is not yet clear how widely adopted her uptime monitoring service will become or how her open-source efforts will evolve. Details about the project’s scalability and long-term sustainability are still developing.

What’s Next

Larsson plans to publish posts sharing insights from her project development, open source some related libraries, and continue building tools driven by her passion. The next steps include expanding the project’s features, enhancing reliability, and engaging with a broader community.

Key Questions

What is Johanna Larsson building?

She is developing an uptime monitoring service that emphasizes reliability, low operating costs, and user experience, built with Elixir, Postgres, and Clickhouse.

Why does she focus on building for personal joy?

Larsson states that the joy of creating and the personal satisfaction it brings are her primary motivations, which keep her engaged over many years.

Will this project be open sourced?

She plans to open source some libraries related to the project and share her learnings publicly, but the core service is currently a personal passion project.

What challenges does she face in this project?

Key challenges include designing for high reliability while maintaining low operational costs, and ensuring the service remains free for most users.