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Weekly Recap, 1529/5000, where I get back to ReactJS and vlog for my job application.
On the 1529th week of my life, I:
- Read: Your Brain at Work by David Rock.
- Reading: Domain-Driven Design by Eric J. Evans.
- Reading: Die Empty by Todd Henry.
- Reading: Full Stack React.
- Watching: A Cloud Guru AWS Software Architect Online Course.
- Wrote: A blog post on how to focus as a software developer.
- Biked: 211km.
- Coding:
- Added Doorkeeper/JWT/controller layer to Daryllxd.
- Added another view to Daryllxd re: summarizing activity tags for the week. This is to keep me honest re: my programming efforts. I can hit 50 hours a week of productive time but if I don’t at least have 25 programming hours, then I’d say the week wasn’t a success. I’m thinking of new ways to categorize things, too.
- Started ReactJS training again. This time, I have two big motivation factors: I’ll actually be using it to create the front-end of Daryllxd, and I actually spent money (I accidentally used the Sourcepad credit card, sorry Sam and Jed) to buy a book (Full Stack React). So I’m definitely invested in it.
- Started the Amazon Web Services Certified Solutions Architect-Associate course on Udemy. The course was normally priced $179.99, but I got it for $19.99 via a flash sale. I always wanted to formalize my knowledge of AWS anyway.
- Devoted my Sunday coding to Elixir. I was not able to finish the “User can add a habit and User can view a list of habits” yet, but I discovered some more language features.
Life Updates
Last week, I worked on Rails code and did some architectural changes to Daryllxd, my life tracking software. This week, I split time between the front-end (ReactJS), back-end (Ruby/Domain Driven Design), and the server (AWS). While this might seem like I’m spreading my brain too thin, I find that I’ve been able to find recurring patterns that help me in the three disciplines. Also, because I operate with strict time limits for the three, I just cut down to the chase and try to sprint for my objectives for the day.
My short- and medium-term goal for the front-end is to create an actual web interface for the Daryllxd app. I’m seeing the limitations of a command line interface: while it’s sort of faster for me to insert data, I can’t use the command line to make graphs and advanced tables. I need JavaScript for those!
Honestly, I’ve never felt comfortable with JavaScript, but I need to relearn this in order to become a full-stack developer again.
Tidbits:
- I created a Youtube video for my job application this week. While they told me to do a short one-minute intro, I went all out with it and made my “Vlog, Episode 1” anyway. It took me nearly half of Monday but whatever, I really enjoyed busting out Premiere for the first time in so long. I actually like video editing and it’s nice to put clips together to create a narrative. Creating this video is actually inspiring me to vlog more.
- After months of being in less than optimal condition, my bike is finally fixed! While it’s been usable for indoor rides, I was always weary of taking it outside because of something faulty in the transmission. It took less time than I thought: about 3 hours total to replace the tunnel guide/bottom bracket, realign the wheels, and tune the derailleurs. It’s working like a charm now, and I think I’m ready for some hills again.