Introduction

May 18, 2021 – What is the StarLog Blog?

So, here's my conundrum. I'm a seasoned software engineer, but my portfolio's actually kind of out of date. I have a day job building software for a financial services company, but I haven't worked on a public-facing product in several years. How might future employers or clients know I'm a good fit for their organization?

To help solve this problem, I decided to build a small web app from scratch, document the process, and put the source code online. I want to share my approach to problem solving, explain the roadblocks I encounter, and why I might choose one solution over another.

One of my many hobbies is backyard astronomy. For this project, I decided to build a digital "observer's notebook" called StarLog. It will be the kind of journal stargazers might use to log their observations from night to night.

A simple app like this can fairly quickly go from proof-of-concept to production-ready, and be gradually enhanced with new features over time. Each step along the way is an opportunity to illustrate my approach to software engineering. I hope you'll tag along with me!