New Trail

I committed to a challenge. I am to prepare myself for a job as a developer. With no CS degree, no tech job experience, and lots of fascination towards Linux, databases, and programming, the path ahead is challenging and exciting.

I considered various paths and decided on DevOps Engineering. I took into account criteria such as how crowded the job market was, profitability, and alignment with my skills and interests. So I started following a roadmap that presented me with multiple topics to study and skills to build. I have not yet interacted with some of them while others I already have some experience with.

I started self hosting around 2021. It was exciting and enjoyable. I was looking to replace Google Sheets to collaborate with my nutritionist. I wanted a privacy-friendly way for her to provide my dietary plans and was not satisfied with docx files. So I found out about Nextcloud but did not understand how it worked. I tried a managed service and realized that I was limited on what I could do with it. I discovered that I could manage my own service with the Linode one-click install. One day I found a video by Learn Linux TV explaining how to install Nextcloud manually on an Ubuntu server and that sounded so cool! I gave it a try and felt so good once I had a running instance installed with my own hands.

Watching tutorial videos I heard of Docker and I later started following guides. I liked the idea of easily deploying cool services to play with. I was also looking for a solution that would serve me in my English and Spanish private teaching, so I set up Linkstack and NginxProxyManager via Docker. Then I tested n8n and loved the countless possibilities it offered and the freedom that came with deploying my own instance. Later on I wanted to make an app to track my food intake, so I set up a PostgreSQL container to plug into AppSmith. Since, I have made multiple databases for different areas of my life, like budgeting and CRM and I challenge myself with designing data models to improve work or personal management.

Now, I am on a path of professionalizing my knowledge and skills and acquiring the missing components to achieve my goal. Time to look ahead, taking one step at a time.