November 8th, 2022


Summary since the last update:

  • Refreshed my git skills with Oh My Git

  • Installed React and set up my first create-react-app

  • Connected the app to a GitHub repository

  • Made this site more functional with better navigation

  • Improved the landing page with a message and social links.

I wanted to jump right into working on exciting projects for my portfolio, but I'll be learning a lot along the way and want to document what I'm learning and what I'm working on.

A simple blog should be perfect.

This should accomplish a few things: it will help me retain the lessons I learn, possibly make it easier to track or reference especially useful materials I find along the way, help me track my productivity and thinking as I make decisions on what tools to use and what to work on, and help me stay focused and cognizant of my priorities.

I wanted to build this website using only tools that I want to continue working with or that I think I will need at some point in my career. This way, I could build a portfolio while also developing my skills. I feel that using as few plugins, services, frameworks, and templates as possible will make me a better developer. With that being said, there's tremendous value in many of these tools - some of which I will likely need to learn at some point in my career. I'm fine starting out with those tools -the ones that I will likely use at some point anyway. That's where React comes in. I understand that it's the most popular JS framework, and I've seen several job postings mention it - so I'd like to get a feel for it.

I paused working through a React tutorial a couple of days ago because I wanted to start hosting all of my projects on github and needed to refresh my git skills. I remembered hearing about Oh My Git, which is an interactive and gamified git tutorial. I decided to try it out, and I completed it this morning. It was great - fun and informative. After getting through it, I created a new directory for my projects and connected them with new GitHub repositories.

Instead of going back to working through the React tutorial, I decided to try to find a way to make this blog a little more functional than it was. Instead of being just a single page for my blog entries, I've implemented pages for entries that are accessible through the menu bar.

Instead of coding it myself and making it more presentable, I did it with Google Sites tools, and I'm leaving it very barebones - it was easier, and my coding projects are more important to me right now. But I do want to circle back later and do it properly after I finish at least a couple of projects I can demo.

What I'll be working on next:

I'm done fussing with this blog for now. I want to jump into my first project. I'm trying to decide between a chatbot or an interface for a public API. There's also a react tutorial for a tic-tac-toe app. I'll pick something easy because an easy win could help me build momentum.