For my final project in engineering, I had developed a web app for the very first time. We called it “Endorseme”, it was a union of the concept of LinkedIn, eLitmus and Codility. The back end of that web app was written in Django and the front end was written in Bootstrap. I should duly note here that although I was leading that project, I was oblivious to the development of the front end, which turned out to be amazing; thanks to the team: Shubham Darda, Ashish Gaikwad, and Shivam Chanage who delivered better than what I could ever imagine.
Fast forward 3 years, yesterday I set a goal for myself as I took up the #100daysofcode challenge. The goal was to learn ReactJS and other concepts of web development such as browser optimization, supporting multiple devices, internationalization etc. in greater detail. To save some time I decided to stick with Django as the back end since I already knew my way around that software. Having the backend made in Python also ensured that Surya, building the AI could directly write his code in the back end. This fact reassured my choice of back end as Django.
But boy was I wrong! Little did I knew that with 3 years of gap my comfort zone had become the uncomfortable comfort zone. The Django API seemed like I am seeing it for the very first time and trivial tasks like account management – which included login and sign up – took a lot longer to figure out. As I mentioned earlier, the front end was never my area of expertise so I chose whatever could help me build two static web pages with least effort. Material design lite swooped in and saved the day. Finally, I was able to put together a basic login and sign up for the movie review web app. I am attaching a screenshot of the webpage here and any web developers/UI/UX designers can recommend any improvements or any trendy designs which I don’t know of.
Finally, from today’s experience, I urge my readers to practice their skills often. It is very easy to get lost in the monotonous humdrum of professional life and let your skills – which you once strived to master – become your uncomfortable comfort zone.
Links of the day:
Code Challenge Log 