Why did I do it?
I wanted to explore web development as a genre of software
development. I also understood that having a portfolio website
would be beneficial for trying to break into the job market.
However, a lot of my design choices were made to target the tech
stack of a local internship opportunity.
What did I accomplish?
I built a pseudo corporate website that was nicely designed,
performant, and had some unique features like hosting a WebGL
version of a game I made in Unity. I accomplished my primary goal,
of having a website which I could update over time and display my
projects and experiences in more depth than I can squeeze on to a
resume.
What did I learn?
I taught myself CSS, HTML, ASP.NET, AWS, IIS, Postgres, and several
other pieces of software. I learned how to do all the necessary
cyber plumbing to
connect all the pieces together. I also developed a basic
understanding of how a website really works. However,
the most important
lesson was the importance of choosing the right tool for the job.
My failure to do that meant, my site was over-complicated, expensive,
and took much longer to develop than it could have.