It's been a month

Well, it's been a month since I left my job. It's amazing how quick time can go when you aren't working.

I've done a lot. I figure I should recap:

• I learned how to build Docker images with Dockerfiles.
• I learned how to use VS Code inside of a container so I can leverage intellisense when coding Dockerized Python apps.
• I learned the basics of Django and I migrated the SacMusic back-end to Django.
• I rebuilt the Next.js front-end for SacMusic.
• I learned the basics of Tailwind CSS and rebuilt SacMusic's styles with Tailwind.
• I learned the basics of Docker networking.
• I learned how to do nginx reverse proxies to containers in a Docker network.
• I learned how to stand up Jenkins within a container.
• I learned about the use case for Docker-in-Docker vs sharing a Docker connection.
• I learned the relationship between the Docker engine and Docker CLI, and the benefits of those components being decoupled.
• I learned about permissions with groups and users when mounting sockets inside containers. Yikes.
• I learned the difference betweeen Jenkins's scripted and declarative pipeline formats.
• I learned how to have a local copy of Jenkins continually poll a GitHub repository for changes using Blue Ocean and pipeline directives.
• I learned how to build a barebones declarative pipeline in Jenkins.
• I published nine journal entries on Tinker log.
• I started going to a chiropractor.
• I started the process of getting new health insurance.
• I got new car insurance.
• I threw out my back (not exactly an accomplishment, but it happened).
• I got a haircut.

I still fell short of completing all of my goals for my first month away from work. Here's what I had hoped to finish in July that I wasn't able to:

• Configure a Jenkins pipeline to store built images in a Docker registry.
• Set up continuous deployment in a Jenkins pipeline.
• Deploy the new SacMusic website.
• Get a real ID.
• Get a passport.
• Get health & dental insurance.
• Get a checkup.
• Get a dental cleaning.

I had a lot of goals for July, so I'm not shocked that I didn't get all of them done. Learning Jenkins ended up being more tedious than I had hoped, so I dug my teeth into that and let other goals take a backseat.

Next steps

I obviously want to knock out all of the unfinished goals from above. And I'll work on all of them. But Jenkins and SacMusic are going to need to be a slow burn for a while. I'm pumped about how much I've learned from SacMusic and Jenkins, but I have little to show for it. Agile is all about deploying. I've deployed very little in the past month, and I have a good bit of effort left before SacMusic is in deployable shape. I need to put things online in the meantime.

Starting today, my goal is to ship something almost everyday. This could be code changes, blog posts, pull requests, live streams, etc. The work I do is meaningless unless it's somewhere that people can see it. Today I shipped a dev.to blog post (Comparison of MDX integration strategies with Next.js), which was half way written but sat as an incomplete draft for two weeks. I have several more draft blog posts that just need a little touch up and will then be ready to publish.

Shipping daily. I can do it. I'm looking for to it. Let's put some shit on the Internet.