Technologies I want to learn this summer
Tags: postgres, svelte, stripe, docker
Published: 2021-07-07 15:34:05

---
title: Technologies I want to learn this summer
published: true
date: 2021-06-02 07:51:00 UTC
tags: 
 - PostgreSQL
 - Svelte
 - Stripe
 - Docker
canonical_url: 
---

Since this is my last summer before I graduate college, I want to take advantage of it to make myself as marketable as possible. It would be useful to have a well-rounded resume, especially as I look for my first post-college job. (By the way, if you are looking for full-stack developers who majored in math at Northwestern, [here](https://blog.kapic.io/assets/PDF/Christopher_Kapic_Resume_(Lucario).pdf) is my resume).

Here are the technologies I want to learn and why I want to learn them.

## [TailwindCSS](https://tailwindcss.com/)
<!-- <a href="https://tailwindcss.com/"><img src="/assets/img/tailwind-css.png" alt="Tailwind CSS" width="50"/></a> -->

I am not artistic, so knowing my way around any CSS framework will fill in that gap well for me. Currently, in spite of all of my efforts, every website I build looks ugly as sin. Hopefully TailwindCSS can change that for me. I know some people have complained about Tailwind making HTML difficult to read, but it seems as though it is pretty universal across different frameworks, which is good.

## SQL

Everyone uses SQL, so I need to learn how to use it too. Based on what I have seen, I do not expect SQL to be difficult. However, it does seem to be the case (from the perspective on one who has not yet used any SQL database) that getting started with a server is difficult, especially if doing so with security in mind. I think I will learn how to use [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) since it seems to be easier to get started with than [MySQL](https://www.mysql.com/) (which would be my second choice).

## [MongoDB](https://www.mongodb.com/)

It seems to be the case that MongoDB is easier than SQL (again, from the perspective of an outsider), but it also seems to be the case that it is not as ubiquitous as SQL databases. I think Mongo will be fun, and that's the main reason why I plan on learning it.

## [GoTrue API](https://github.com/netlify/gotrue)

Authentication is either a pain or requires vendor lock-in. Netlify's GoTrue API might be the easiest solution for a self-hosted, not-too-difficult identity provider. Right now, I use Firebase and Netlify Identity, but GoTrue on a self-hosted machine seems to be ideal for making myself independent on the web. (I will probably still use either Firebase or Netlify Identity for TickerTab.io, just so I do not have to worry about my identity server going down, but I do cringe at the thought of being more dependent on others than necessary for my web presence).

## [Manjaro](https://manjaro.org/)

I have watched enough Luke Smith. I need to make the jump into Linux. Well, I have already done some work with Linux, but I would like to use it as my daily driver. I have a laptop that runs Archlinux, but I do not care enough about my computer to set up every little detail to be how I want it to be, so using Manjaro seems like a good in-between. I will probably go with the KDE version, and will style it to be as keyboard-centric (eg: avoid using the mouse) as possible, keeping some of the aesthetics of MacOS (which I am using to type this post).

## [Svelte](https://svelte.dev/)

Do I worry about the potential limitations of Svelte? Yes. Do I think it has the potential to be awesome once I learn it? Also yes.

And I think learning it will be fun. Therefore, I will learn Svelte.

## [Stripe](https://stripe.com/)

I already have some experience with Stripe, but I would not yet consider myself confident. I do need to implement subscriptions for TickerTab, so there is no choice but to learn Stripe. I think it will be useful for a lot of projects, so I—though daunted—will learn Stripe.

## TypeScript

It's what the cool kids are doing.

## [Docker](https://www.docker.com/)

I do not want to need Docker, but something tells me that it will show up, sometime or another. Might as well get ahead of the curve.