016 min
Building LLM Gateway: from zero to $470K in 12 months
In May 2025, Luca Steeb and I started building LLM Gateway, an open-source API gateway for Large Language Models. Twelve months later, it has processed over $470K in verified…
01
026 min
2021 year in review
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash 2021 was an immersive year for me, After quitting my full time job at 4D in early November 2020, I was actually in a tough spot, I had only a…
035 min
2020 year in review
I haven't published any article during this year which is unfortunate as it's been an overwhelming one for me but not exactly due to the pandemic, it was mainly due to the amount…
042 min
2019 year in review
I managed to achieve in 2019 much more of what I've done in 2018, here's an overview of what I have learned, created & some random facts. Learning Dev - React hooks - React native…
054 min
Get paid while you're learning, working at a startup
Life update If you haven't read my previous article about the visas rejections, I'd recommend you to do so as I mentioned there that I switched my job and the reasons behind such…
067 min
Getting my third visa rejection
My application visa into the Schengen territory has just got denied for the third time in a row, before I mention the reasons and their stupid claims on why it got denied, let me…
072 min
2018 year review
2018 was for me the most productive year so far, so I've decided to write an article at the beginning of each new year highlighting few achievements to improve over the upcoming…
083 min
One year working remotely
Remember the last time I shared with you my story when I declined the job offer as a front end developer then won the first prize at a hackathon which was hilarious because I got…
091 min
We are truly living in a simulation
Not that kind of simulation you’ve seen on the matrix movie but a different one, keep on reading to understand more. The simulation I’m talking about is actually simulated by…
103 min
Getting my first job offer without a degree at a startup
It all started on facebook, I was reading Tech crunch news until a notification popped up, my friend Med Bouasria tagged me on a job announcement on a facebook post of Hidden…
113 min
How I learned Design and Dev in a year and half
I started Learning Design 1st - I learned Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop --Then Adobe XD later on-- easily since I was playing with Adobe After Effects when I was a little boy. - I…
122 min
Never work for free
It was the first time I work for free since it was my English teacher for whom I promised to make an entire dynamic website in which he would post his quotes -he thinks he invents…
133 min
About me so far...
The story of my nickname "Smakosh" I’m Ismail Ghallou also known as Smakosh, a nickname which was given to me since I was 8 years old by one of my childhood friends' father. Many…