Roadmap of Technologies I'm Learning in 2022
Date: November 28th, 2022
As a full-stack web developer for hire, and currently self-employed, I always set goals for projects and areas I wish to study. This year will bring in a lot of whole new material to learn, but perhaps less new projects, but more updates for existing projects. I have gathered my thoughts from my plans of what I wish to achieve in 2022.
Dev Updates:
Teachery 1.2
As I mentioned in the last blog post, Teachery 1.2 has been released. You can learn about some of the additions I have made to the web app in this update.
Portfolio Updates
For the portfolio page you are viewing right now, there will be some small UI improvements on the way. These issues are listed on my Github repository. I would like to change the sorting for projects, and improve some animations on transitions for different objects.
Dirtbook CRUD and auth update
Coming in the near future for Dirtbook is small enhancements to the app. Search and filter improvements to make filtering feel more seamless. I would also like to improve accessibility on the app. Finally, I will do a content update to add more drivers to the page.
Hopefully sometime later this year, I will do a CRUD update that allows anyone to submit updates or changes in the app. Teachery will take up a lot of time, and I'll be busy with additional studies, but this is something I would like to complete. Who knows, maybe I'll find the motivation to do it before the racing season gets underway in the Spring. The schema for creating and updating is there, I simply need to add a front-end interface for it.
Studies:
Math
As I prepare to enroll at the university to complete my computer science degree, It's been some odd years since I last took a math class. I'll fully admit, I took the bare minimum math credits in school, and was always fearful of anything too complicated. That all changed now, thanks to my goals, and many, many accessible free resources to learn math the right way, and gain confidence that I can go beyond basic math.
Thank to Khan Academy and a whole slew of Youtube teachers, I've been deep diving into Algebra, and preparing for Calculus, which is a prerequisite to enter the university of my choice. It's been an exciting journey learning something I should have done long ago. But the next best time to learn something is always today.
Enroll at WGU
Once I meet the prerequisites for admittance, I plan to enroll at Western Governors University in the B.S. Computer Science Degree program. Software engineering is where I plan to be for the foreseeable future, and I want to be able to fully develop my skills, and studying deeper into programming algorithms, math, and being able to study different languages will be valuable. I'm really excited to have the opportunity, this university is designed for working professionals, and has an absolutely excellent degree program from word of mouth.
Algorithm Deep Dive
Along with the data structures and algorithms I will learn at the university, I feel it is necessary to also learn additional skills, and get 2 or 3 instructors explanations of the various algorithms and solutions out there. I will consult different books and online instructors through Udemy, and "level up" my skill set using Leetcode and other challenge websites.
Tech to Learn In 2022:
Typescript backend
Since I will be studying university courses, most of my focus on new learning will be based on those courses. However, I do plan this year to completely build a new back-end server to host my Teachery app. The back-end currently is running on Javascript with Express and Nodejs, and a first iteration GraphQL server. I would like to use all the fancy modern tools out there now to make the GraphQL api more flexible, introduce subscriptions for real-time updates, plus utilize Typescript to make future updates more bug free, and easier to implement.
Java and C++
For Computer Science classes, deep diving into Java will be a must for the software development courses. I already have a good understanding of the syntax, so it should be relatively straightforward to get in and build something. The difficulties will lie in understanding the build processes and intricacies of these programming languages.
Some C++ will be required for CS courses as well. Being that I have never worked with a lower level language, it will be a bit interesting, and potentially challenging at times to learn.