A Look Back at My Most Productive Winter Vacation

My winter vacation in 2025 began on Sunday, December 21, and it turned into the most productive winter vacation I have had so far. Before the holidays started, I had set a goal to properly learn CAD, and I committed to it from the very first day.

I began with simple designs, such as a desk organizer, and gradually moved on to more complex models, including military vehicles and tanks, using Fusion 360. Designing these models was both challenging and enjoyable.

In the first 15 days of the vacation, I spent around 43 hours working on CAD. This was my longest consistency streak so far, averaging approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes per day. I stayed motivated throughout because I was working on projects that genuinely interested me. After uploading my models to Printables, they received around 500 downloads along with hundreds of likes in total.

Alongside CAD work, I became active on the Hack Club Slack, where I met many new people and made several friends, most of them from Pakistan. We often spent time chatting after long CAD sessions. We were all working toward a shared goal, although the exact reason behind the 3D modeling will remain undisclosed until the results are obtained.

After focusing on CAD, I decided to participate in Hack Club’s Blueprint Program, which provides funding for hardware projects. Initially, I had planned to wait until after my O Level exams before applying to programs like this. However, I realized that opportunities do not always come twice, so I decided to take part without delaying further.

I started with a guided project called Hackpad, where I designed a custom mechanical keyboard PCB and case. The project was approved relatively quickly. In contrast, my earlier submission, a Line Following Robot, is still under review after several rejections.

Following Hackpad, I began working on a more advanced project: a custom ESP32 development board based on the ESP32-S3-WROOM-1-N16R8 chip. This was my first complex hardware design, and it helped me understand concepts such as capacitor selection, power routing, and current flow optimization. This project is also currently awaiting review by the Blueprint team.

At present, I am designing a custom flight controller for a future project, which will most likely be a VTOL drone powered by locally running AI Model. The flight controller is being designed specifically for this application and includes several customizations, such as high-precision components and extensive decoupling. Once finalized, I plan to submit this project for review as well. I also intend to design a LoRa Puck module through the Blueprint Program, although this may be postponed until after my O Level exams due to time constraints.

In addition to hardware and CAD work, I also spent time on software development. I built a personal portfolio website to showcase my projects, and the website hosting this blog was also developed during this vacation.

GitHub Copilot played a significant role in helping me complete both websites within a short period of time. Tools like this are rapidly changing how software is developed, and I plan to write a separate blog sharing my thoughts on the role of AI in software development.

Thank you for reading.