The product question always comes before the engineering one.

Most of what I know, I learned by building things, watching them fall apart, and trying again. Somewhere along the way, I started looking beyond whether the code worked. I became curious about what was being built, why it needed to exist, how it would hold up as it grew, and what could be left out without losing what mattered. I still enjoy figuring out the how, but I find myself drawn first to the why and the what. Once those are clear, the code usually becomes the easier part.