Another useless project on the Internet
What is it that I’m doing? I’m just going to build a simple application from start to finish. And it really is stupid simple – I’m going to build software for a library. As in physical books that you hold in your hand and use to put yourself to sleep. What a great way to spend my free waking hours, right?
So what do I want to actually learn?
- Domain-driven design (I know, I know, my domain is probably too small… but I have to start with something)
- Distributed architecture
- CI/CD
- Docker containers
- Functional programming (writing in a functional style in C#, then moving on to F# and exploring other languages)
- AWS/Azure comparison
…and whatever else that strikes my fancy and makes sense to do and seems beneficial. This is a whole lot of stuff that I’m getting into. Way too much. Especially for such a mundane thing as an app that manages a library with about 10 books. But I’ve been looking for an “interesting” project idea for a long time, and I was stuck in that phase for ages. It should not have taken me this long to realize that it wasn’t worth the effort and that I needed to prioritize and focus my learning plans.
Why am I even doing this
“Should have” is a phrase I use much too often and almost always in a negative way. Well, I need to do something about this, and this is the first step. I don’t pretend that I know it all, or that I even know all that much.
Why am I doing this? Because, for me, at the end of the day, all the blog posts, StackOverflow posts, podcasts and YouTube videos don’t replace what works the best for me – learning by doing. I’ve been a professional software developer for longer than half of the developers out there, and I am constantly haunted by the feeling that I don’t know nearly enough of all that is going on in the world of software. Yes, I’m probably suffering from Imposter Syndrome…
(maybe I fall in the second category…)
That first heading isn’t even accurate. I’ve never done something like this. Better late than never, I say. I hope this will be just the first step and not the only step to becoming a better developer and, more importantly, a learner.
Feel free to follow this process of mine in this blog. Feedback from strangers welcome!