Context: Full Sail grad + AWS intern, still pre-first SWE job. This stack reflects the tech I touch in portfolio projects (Car-Match, Triangle Shader Lab, CheeseMath, AWS labs).
AI assist: ChatGPT helped group the tools and reminded me to tag comfort levels.
Status: Living document. I update it whenever my habits change.

Languages & comfort levels

LanguagePrimary useStatus
TypeScriptReact SPAs, Node APIsComfortable for prototypes. Generics/utility types still require docs.
JavaScript (ES2023)CodePens, Gatsby/Vite buildsDaily driver. Async patterns + DOM APIs feel natural.
PythonAWS labs, automation scripts, FastAPI demosLearning. Comfortable with scripting; still new to larger apps.
HTML/CSSSemantic layouts, Tailwind tokensComfortable. Accessibility/language semantics baked into every project.
C#/JavaCoursework + interview prepExploring. No production experience.
PHPLegacy courseworkRarely used now.

Frameworks & libraries

  • React / Next.js / Gatsby: Main UI stack (this site, SPA résumés, CheeseMath). Hooks + context + Suspense for state management.
  • Node.js + Express: Lightweight REST APIs (BasicServerSetup, Car-Match backend).
  • FastAPI: Local experiments for Convo-AI. Still prototyping.
  • Tailwind CSS: Default styling approach (consistent tokens, responsive utilities).
  • PixiJS / Three.js: Used in Triangle Shader Lab + other visual experiments. AI helps me reason through graphics math.
  • Testing: Jest/Supertest (backend), Testing Library (frontend), Playwright (auth labs).

Cloud/DevOps toolkit

AreaToolsNotes
Hosting & deploysNetlify, GitHub Pages, Render, AWS (Lambda, API Gateway, EKS labs)Netlify/Pages host most sites. Render handles Car-Match backend (free tier). AWS used for labs + serverless experiments.
DataDynamoDB, MongoDB Atlas, PostgreSQLDynamoDB for serverless labs, Mongo for Car-Match, Postgres for BasicServerSetup prototypes.
ContainersDocker Compose, ECR, EKS labsCompose for daily usage, EKS for workshops. No production clusters yet.
IaCTerraform, SAM/Serverless FrameworkTerraform for EKS labs, SAM for serverless APIs. CDK still experimental.
ObservabilityCloudWatch, Netlify analytics, simple /healthz endpointsNeed to add Sentry/OTel eventually.

Productivity stack

  • GitHub Actions: CI/CD for all repos (lint, test, build, deploy).
  • Notion + Obsidian: Project tracking, honesty logs, study notes.
  • VS Code + Copilot Chat: Editor + AI pair programming.
  • Postman/Bruno: API testing collections.
  • Slack + Loom: Async updates to mentors/recruiters.
  • Apple Health/Whoop: Sleep/stress data that feeds planning decisions.

Focus areas

  1. Accessibility-first UI: Semantic HTML, skip links, screen reader testing, color contrast.
  2. API design + auth: Building JWT/Cognito flows, documenting endpoints, writing runbooks.
  3. CI/CD automation: GitHub Actions templates for Netlify/Render/AWS deploys.
  4. Cost-aware architectures: Serverless + free-tier hosting keep demos affordable.
  5. Honesty + documentation: honesty.md, README “Reality” sections, and runbooks for every project.

Currently exploring

  • AWS Bedrock / Q Business: Responsible AI workflows, prompt logging, access controls.
  • Policy-as-code: OPA + AWS Config for guardrails (still lab-only).
  • Edge rendering: Next.js + Cloudflare Workers experiments for faster global delivery.
  • Zig + WebGPU: Low-level performance practice (Triangle Shader Lab, OBJ Parser).

Next steps

  • Deepen AWS Developer Associate prep (tie it to CheeseMath backend).
  • Add tracing/log aggregation to personal projects (maybe OpenTelemetry + Grafana Cloud).
  • Harden Car-Match backend (Mongo Atlas, Render, Ops docs) so it remains honest even when folks poke at it.
  • Publish my GitHub Actions templates + Notion trackers so others can reuse them.

References