I Built a Doll Elevator and Fell Back Into Engineering
“Sometimes the simplest thing you build turns out to be the most powerful.”
This all started with some fishing line and a question from my five-year-old: “Can we make the doll go up and down?” What was supposed to be a quick project turned into something more—a reminder of why I loved building things in the first place.
It had been years since I messed with hardware. But there I was, holding a spool of line, a couple of pulleys, and staring at a stubborn bit of friction, while my kid kept asking, “Is it working yet?”
Rediscovering the Hacker’s High
We tried taping things to cardboard. That didn’t work. Switched to wood. Added guide rails. The fishing line kept tangling. We didn’t have a winch, so we made one out of a stick and a rubber band. I showed my daughter what a counterweight was. She showed me how to laugh when things broke.
Somewhere around the third try, I realized I hadn’t felt that kind of focus in a long time—the kind where you’re so into a problem, you forget what time it is.
No Jira tickets. No commits. Just: does this string move the thing?
When it finally worked, I felt like I was 10 again, messing with a soldering iron and not really knowing what I was doing.
The Deeper Realization
The elevator didn’t just lift a Barbie up the wall. It brought back something I’d been missing: that playful, hands-on side of engineering.
I’d spent years designing systems, scaling platforms, refactoring code. Good work—rewarding, stable, respected. But that spark? The thing that got me started? It had faded.
Turns out, all it took was duct tape, gravity, and a kid’s wild ideas to bring it back.
And once it was back, it didn’t stop.
A few weeks later, I was knee-deep in AI frameworks, building knowledge graphs, wiring up crawlers, spinning up Docker containers—not because I had to, but because I was curious again. I wanted to see what I could build.
Threadline, OTTO, agents, scrapers, timelines—it all started with a Barbie elevator.
What You Build Doesn’t Matter—Until It Does
I used to think only “serious” projects were worth it. That’s how you get stuck. The truth is, building anything—especially if it’s weird or messy—is what keeps you sharp.
That first week back, I checked my old blog. The last post? Some goofy Markov chains experiment from 2014. It made me laugh. Ten years ago, I was building weird stuff just for fun. Why did I ever stop?
Not anymore.
Want to Get Unstuck?
Here’s what I’d suggest:
- Say yes to a silly idea. Extra points if a kid comes up with it.
- Get your hands on something real—wire, paper, wood, cardboard.
- Don’t Google. Don’t overthink it. Build, mess up, try again.
- Notice when frustration turns into flow.
- Keep following that feeling. See where it leads.
A Final Note
If you’re burned out or just stuck, try building something that makes no sense. Something pointless. Something fun.
My daughter and I still use the elevator. We’ve upgraded it three times. She has no idea it kicked off a whole new chapter for me.
But I do.
And now, so do you.
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