Finally finished working on the final project in the web security section of the Node.js course from The Odin Project. I built out the admin sign-up feature, the logout, and the delete messages for admins features. Feels great to finally make some tangible progress. I was working pretty well today. Jumping around with Vim and making the appropriate changes. I learned a lot in this section. I still have a lot more to improve on but for now I feel good about moving forward.
So, now what? Well there are a few section left in the Node.js course from The Odin Project. I am going to keep working through those because I think there are still some important backend concepts that I can improve on. I still have a bone to pick with web sockets and CORS. Hopefully those topics are covered. Again, my purpose of doing this course is to expose myself to more backend concepts and learn them from a universal perspective. I do not want to pigeon hole myself to only knowing how to work with these fields with Node.js. I want to be competent enough to take these concepts and apply them to any stack I decided to use. That is what all this note taking is for.
I previously learned how to only use tools without fully understanding concepts and that has lead me to being a somewhat flawed developer. I did not learn the fundamentals and so when I got to more complex topics I lacked the skills needed to tackle them. Now I am trying to correct that by reviewing concepts I thought I knew and adding where I find there are gaps in my knowledge. So far it has been a great experience tbh.
On top of continuing with the backend studies I am going to be slowly transitioning back into studying Data Structures and Algorithms (DSAs). I left my studies to improve my project and concept knowledge. Now it is time to slowly make my return. I think the approach I am going to take this time around is to look at common problem types and their solutions and work backwards to right notes and reverse engineer how it all works. Previously, I found that some algorithm problems were very topic specific. An example would be working with Roman numerals. If I am not familiar with roman numerals than that problems becomes a bit harder than it needs to be. I figure why not cover my bases and then from there I can try other problems that have these additional layers or problem solving and concept knowledge. That might lead to a higher engagement level with the topic and a deadly result when it comes to my DSA skills. Only time will tell so for now it’s all just an idea.
TLDR;
Okay, so here are the highlights of what I did:
- Backend -> Finished working on the Members Only Project from the web security (Authentication) section. Here is the Repo where you can see the progress. Finished building out the “Become an Admin”, “Logout”, and the “delete messages (admin only privileges)” functionality. Feels good to finally be done! It was a great project to test my knowledge and skills in the backend..
Goal For Round 8 of the #100DaysofCode Challenge
This is my eighth round of the “#100daysofcode” challenge. I will be continuing my work from round five, six, and seven into round eight. I was working through the book “Cracking the Coding Interview” by Gayle Laakmann McDowell. My goal was to become more familiar with algorithms and data structures. This goal was derived from my goal to better understand operating systems and key programs that I use in the terminal regularly e.g. Git. This goal was in turn derived from my desire to better understand the fundamental tools used for coding outside of popular GUIs. This in turn was derived from my desire to be a better back-end developer.
I am currently putting a pause on the algorithm work to build some backend/full stack projects. I primarily want to improve my skills with the back-end from an implementation perspective. I have improved tremendously in terminal and CLI skills but I lost focus due to how abstract the algorithm concepts got. I wanted to work on things that were more tangible until I can get to a position where I could directly benefit from improving my algorithm skills and theoretical knowledge. So that’s the focus right now. Build my backend skills and prove my full stack capabilities by building some dope projects.
Again, I still have no idea if my path is correct but I am walking down this road anyways. Worst case scenario I learn a whole bunch of stuff that will help me out on my own personal projects. Best case scenario I actually become one of those unicorn developers that go on to start a billion dollar company… You never know LOL.