BeToTheBop Blog

Today I completed the "Cloud Practitioner Essentials" class from AWS. My current goal is to earn the AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification and this class has been a good step in getting there. Next I'm going to start another class called "AWS Cloud Quest: Cloud Practitioner". This looks to be a more hands on learning experience like a Lab class. After that I'm going to start looking at exam prep materials and see if I can schedule an exam for the certification. Getting the Cloud Practitioner Certification is just a per-requisite for getting the Amazon Certified Developer Certification that I really want. It's not a hard requirement, more of a recommendation, but I think it will make training for the Dev cert much smoother. I have a few classes that I've found for training for the Certified Developer Exam, but some of the good resources for that may cost some money. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. I think getting these certifications may h...

Since moving to Charlotte I've been trying to find new opportunities in the software development and tech fields in general. I still want to develop computer games, but I'd like to have other, hopefully more stable, sources of income as well. I believe I have the skills to find a job in software dev, but being unable to drive because of my visual impairment is a big hurdle. Also, I have education and skills in programming, but all my work experience is in IT management which isn't super helpful. All of this to say that I'm trying to find creative ways to work my way into the software industry.   Certification is my current plan. I think having some official, reputable programming certifications will help me to be more marketable. I'm starting with AWS certs. I think that cloud technology is very important in today's industry and I'm very comfortable working with virtual environments and abstract concepts. I think Amazon is a big leader in the commercial Linu...

  Extra Space Sci-Fi Life Simulator The player begins by inheriting a massive but abandoned space station in a distant asteroid belt. With really nothing else to their name, they are dropped off at the entrance of this mansion-like space station and left with the only real objective being finding a way to live. The station is in a serious state of disrepair and clutter, but as the player explores the facility and clears away the mess, they will discover valuable resources, useful systems and hidden treasures. They will also discover mysterious hints and messages concerning the former stations crew and mission. New challenges will appear as they make progress and new opportunities as well. The game will have a casual, relaxed atmosphere allowing the players to progress at their own pace and develop their own strategies. Minimal guidance will be provided instead promoting player creativity and exploration in a low risk environment. Themes of independence and isolation will be explore...

Humans finally live among the stars, but they still need good food to eat. Despite our many advances in technology, one ancient invention still serves as one of the best solution to this basic human need: Tacos In this casual comedy simulation game, players will manage a space ship designed to cook and serve tacos to the hard working citizens of space; a taco truck in space if you will. Along with your faithful companion, a robot chef, players will travel the stars to search for the best places to sell tacos. Players will buy supplies, fuel, ingredients, make new recipes, create menus, set prices, and converse with customers all to increase their bottom line. They will use the profits they earn to buy upgrades to their equipment, access to new markets, and maybe eventually a whole fleet of taco space-trucks! My plan is to develop this in Godot with the initial target of Android phones. The game will be  entirely touch controls designed for casual play. I will publish this on the Go...

 Working Plan for 2024 (revised 4/16) Learn React: NextJS by Example (Complete) Improve Online Presence: Blog, LinkedIn, etc FUNFT NextJS Online Game Godot Demo Projects Large Game Project Finish Zoomies Learn React: NextJS by Example (Complete!) My original goal was to complete the NextJS course by Feb 2nd.  It wound up taking me until Mar 15th to complete, but I still believe the course was very useful to my career development and I have an official certificate. Improve Online Presence This project is still underway. In an effort to make my goals more timely, I'm going to set an estimate for completion for each of these tasks. I may get them done sooner, but I just want a roadmap to keep me motivated. See dates below.     This project has multiple parts: Improving my LinkedIn profile, Creating a personal webpage for my projects, Making a blog, Improving my Itch.io page. LinkedIn Profile (Complete by 4/19): This should be pretty self-evident. I need to update t...

 The professor of my NextJS course just posted this: Mirko posted an announcement Authentication with the Next.js App Router Hi all, Today I have published two new sections on Authentication with the App Router to the Next.js by Example course:     Section 19: Authentication: Cookies and JWTs     Section 20: Authentication: User Database Authentication is a functionality many of you have asked about, and the new sections will hopefully give you a good starting point. As I mention in the Overview video, it's actually a pretty complex topic, and it isn't really feasible to cover all possible use cases in a course. In the 20 lectures and nearly 2 hours of new videos, my aim is to give you a good understanding of the most important concepts, that should help you whatever approach you then choose for your own projects. Some of you may also remember that my original plan was to cover NextAuth.js, a popular library. However, version 5 (the one with full suppo...