Learning to set up a new project environment can be really tough. It is honestly the part of development work that I hate the most. I feel like the majority of my time during this step of the process is spent looking at documentation, maybe watching some videos about set up and just figuring out how I can get everything to work so I can actually start to do the part that I like the most, coding.
This last week we finally got our project completely set up fully. We are using a few new technologies that I, nor my teammates, have ever set up before. So, it took a bit of time, organization and coordination to get everything set up properly. To start I had never used MongoDB so learning how it functions and how it connects to the app you are building took some time to figure out. On a side note, I really enjoyed learning how to use it. The only other two NoSQL databases I have used have been Google Cloud Datastore and Aerospike. Both of which don’t seem to have user friendly querying capabilities that MongoDB has. So, I am happy to be learning and working with it. Getting back to set up, our second big hurdle was setting up user authentication. We really had to figure out the best way to login a user using MongoDB and some middleware. We had to problem solve as a group and look up a lot resources in order to create something that would serve our app’s needs. However, once we got that done it was a huge relief because now, we have an app with a functioning login system, connected database, and deployed to GCP. Now we just have to code.
When I typically finish setting up everything for a project it feels like the wind is at my back. I can focus on the fun stuff like building the backend logic, routes, and designing the webpages. It feels like the initial hurdle has been leaped. Obviously there will still be challenges but its great having web pages that display and you are able to interact with them because the app is working at a base level. The next five weeks should be fun as we are able to now focus on building out the app. I am really looking forward to it.
Until next time.
Nathan Ramos
