Luanching Nebuloid

For my entire existence as a software engineer, I didn't have a website! In the back of my mind, it was always nagging at me…

Me
Nolan, why not build a website? Nolan, it'll show recruiters you mean business. Nolan, your website though!
Also me
Yeah, yeah, inner me…I get the idea! Shush now, I'll make my website.
Me again
Okie :)

…Yeah, my inner monologue happened pretty much just like that. Except, it took place over the course of a few years, while in school and on the job.

I feel like this is a relatable experience to any web developer without a personal website. Take it from me: not having a website doesn't make you a worse developer, but it also doesn't advocate for your abilities either. That said, I'm quite proud to introduce my developer blog & portfolio, Nebuloid.

Why Nebuloid?

I wanted a website that had a space-themed domain name. Unfortunately, many of the good ones were taken. At some point I settled on a made-up word. Since it was (relatively) unused, I felt I could claim it as my own. …although, my domain now shares the namesake of an obscure item from Animal Crossing.

After adopting the name, it became a little bit more personal to me than just this. We all have a multitude of conjoined and conflicting parts that make up our collective selves. Nebuloid became an abstract manifestation of a part of me!

…Hmm, perhaps more aptly: Nebuloid is just a techy developer brand of mine. 😉

Technologies

I wanted to be the owner of the website from the rock-bottom to the tippy-top of the whole stack. I created a Backend API and a Frontend website for it, set up a Linux Server and a DB Cluster, using all of these technologies:

TypeScript
ESLint
NodeJS
ExpressJS
GraphQL
Mongoose
MongoDB
Linux Server
SSH
NGINX
PM2
NextJS
ReactJS
SASS
Figma
StoryBook

Lovingly, I collectively call this the GREMLiN Stack. Okay, that's a made up acronym, but it sounds pretty good, right?

Creating something like this, and owning it throughout the stack, really helped me grasp a whole onslaught of topics. I hadn't had much experience with Figma or with Server Administration, for example.

As a Full-Stack developer, I believe its important to understand the entirety of a project's stack on some level. While people are right to declare a niche of their work as a highlighted expertise, at times its just as important to understand the connecting areas of a system. And while I maintain this philosophy, I also just think its fun to see everything connect smoothly and seamlessly. That, my friends, is why I am a Full-Stack engineer, and not specifically a Frontend or Backend engineer.

Nebuloid Blog

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Launching Nebuloid