Hi everyone! I've been stuck looking for a dramatic opening for this piece, but I never seem to come up with a good one, so here goes nothing. This is a long-overdue introduction.
My name is Saheedat Afolabi. I’m a physiotherapy student and a recent graduate of AltSchool Africa’s school of engineering (Front End Engineering).
I have days when things make a lot of sense to me, and I make as much progress as I want, and there are days when I just sit and stare at my screen, overwhelmed by how much doesn't make sense. No in-betweens.
Last week, I received a ridiculous message at 3 a.m., and it had me reassessing where I was as a developer. I decided that the only way to get better and prove that I knew what I did and more was to work on a few solid projects.
For my first choice, I chose a Smart Home Dashboard. I'm realizing now that although it looked simple at first glance, it's a pretty ambitious project.
Anyways, here goes something.
Imagine having all your home controls in the same place. Lights? Security? Temperature? Irrigation? All in one place. A Smart Home Dashboard controls and monitors smart devices in a home. With it, you can control almost anything in your home from your phone or other devices.
It is similar to the central nervous system, in that instead of having multiple apps handling different smart appliances in a home, the Smart Home Dashboard acts as a sole controller of everything. Think simplified control and a personalized experience.
The first time I spoke to a senior developer, he told me to make sure I have an app that solves a real world problem. I guess you can see why I chose this project.
I set out to build this project in a way that will challenge me to solve problems by myself. It is designed to have me think of multiple ways to solve a problem, rely heavily on what I learned while in AltSchool, read as many helpful technical articles as possible, and reach out to people for help. I imagine it's going to be a fun(and mostly frustrating) ride.
For this project, I’m working with React, TypeScript and Tailwind CSS. I chose React because I want to try working with React and TypeScript for the first time. Tailwind CSS was my framework of choice because I really like it, and it allows for quick development with a utility-first approach, so that’s a plus.
On the backend, the dashboard integrates with IoT devices through APIs, ensuring smooth communication between the interface and the devices it controls. I plan to make use of dummy data before I integrate with IoT.
Additionally, I will be using Polypane during the process of development. Polypane is a development tool that is specifically designed to help web developers test their websites across multiple devices and screen sizes.
The goal of this project is to improve my problem solving skills, understand how to build scalable and responsive applications, and maybe work on connecting with more people.
One of the things I keep hearing over and again is “Building in public is very important”, and now I'm going to attempt to do that by documenting my process, progress and challenges faced while building this project. I’m hoping this also helps me improve my technical writing skills.
I'll appreciate helpful feedback and ideas as I work on this project.
Expect an update every week!
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