How it started

NRG did not start as a company or as a large project with a carefully planned concept. It started in Samara with a small program called BenzConfig 0.1 Console. Before that, BenzConfig was nothing more than an Excel spreadsheet with formulas that I used as a practical working tool. Later, I went on a business trip to Tuapse.

That was where BenzConfig first evolved from a collection of formulas and a console utility into a proper application with a graphical interface. The first GUI version was written in Python using PySide6 and packaged as a standalone Windows application. About a year later, I decided to take the next step and rewrite the application in C# and .NET.

ChatGPT became part of that process — not as a replacement for development, but as a tool that helped me learn a new language, understand architecture and work with technologies I had not used before. Today, BenzConfig exists in several forms: Windows, Android and PWA. What once started as an Excel spreadsheet gradually became a standalone product.

What is NRG?

NRG is short for ENERGY. Originally, it was simply a combination of letters that I liked. Over time, however, it started to fit the projects quite well — energy, fuel, engineering and practical software built to solve real problems. NRG is not a large company or a team of developers. It is simply the name behind my software projects and development experiments.

Why build these things?

I have always been interested in understanding how things work. When an existing tool is not quite enough, I would rather build one myself. Sometimes it starts with an Excel spreadsheet, sometimes with a small utility, and sometimes with nothing more than an idea that seems useful. What I enjoy most is designing interfaces, turning a problem I have into a working piece of software, and gradually taking it from a rough idea to a finished product. That is why NRG projects can be quite different from one another.

Technology is a tool

I do not use technology simply because it is new or popular. To me, technology is a tool. What matters is solving the problem well. That is why NRG projects may involve Python, C#, .NET, WPF, Android, PWA and other technologies. The choice depends on the problem and on the result I want to achieve.

What's next?

There is no grand business plan behind NRG. It is simply a place for the software I build, improve and sometimes create from scratch because I need such a tool myself. What the next projects will be is something time will tell. The important thing is that they remain useful, understandable and built with genuine interest.

NRG — software for real problems.