When I enrolled in an advanced AI coding class as a beginner I knew it would push me outside my comfort zone. But I underestimated how much my perfectionism would emerge when our assignment was building an AI podcast app with the Whisper API and Streamlit. I don’t typically back down from too many challenges so I dove in headfirst, determined to complete all the steps needed to build the app from scratch and I wasn’t just going to complete it, but I wanted it to be perfect.
TLDR: I had to build an AI podcast app using the Whisper API (transcribes audio to text). The app takes the transcribed text and pulls out key points and summarizes the podcast. The Web UI was built using Streamlit. https://colabpodcastapp-jaye.streamlit.app/
My zeal quickly led me down pointless rabbit holes resolving insignificant errors unrelated to the app’s core functionality. Deployment issues with the Modal platform persisted, despite diligently troubleshooting. I kept pushing forward though as I was determined to have flawless code execution rather than completing the minimum viable product given the timeline constraints. My teacher’s sent the class a message and said – don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough. That was a message just for me.
I spent so much time trying and failing to get Modal to work correctly that I had to accept that finishing mattered far more than endless nitpicking over minor imperfections. Though my app wasn’t totally polished, it worked well overall thanks to piecing together the steps I’d learned. The errors became valuable lessons about the realities of coding. I also gained practical skills in AI transcription, NLP, APIs, deployment, and more. My sense of pride emerged not from the final product itself, but from persevering through hurdles and self-doubt as a beginner and submitting my project. I also learned how to finally use Streamlit and push a project to GitHub.
Learning to code clearly isn’t linear. The messy twists and turns of this project taught me things no straightforward tutorial ever could. I’m feeling motivated to keep practicing and building, focusing on progress over perfection. My app wasn’t flawless in the end. But it worked despite the roadblocks. By reframing mistakes as growth opportunities, I felt genuinely empowered creating something using AI. ANDDD I got my certificate of completion as well. All in all it was worth the effort.
If you’d like to see the project in action you can click my app link here https://colabpodcastapp-jaye.streamlit.app/. I’m not sure how active it’ll be without regular use and sometimes Streamlit disables apps when they aren’t being used frequently. If that happens, you can also see the screenshots below.
