Hello world!
Allow me to introduce myself: I’m Rashida, currently interning in software development and getting my Associate’s in the same field.
After experiencing a job loss in spring of 2024, I decided to switch careers after receiving the opportunity of a lifetime to apply for the BIT502 program. In a nutshell, this is a local program created to develop tech talent in the local region. Selected candidates get the opportunity to work for a local employer in the tech field while getting an Associate’s in Computer and Information Technology. I started my internship/study in fall of 2024.
Although my Bachelor’s is in Psychology and my professional background is in Marketing and Communications, I’ve had an interest in web development ever since I was 11 and wanted to make my own websites, leading to me teaching myself HTML and CSS. Even though I went into marketing post-college, these technical skills were an added bonus for understanding the technical aspect of websites and emails. Over the years, I’ve done more self-study and taken courses, but this is my first position in programming proper.
What is Project Loopbreaker?
In a nutshell, Project Loopbreaker will be a web app that brings together all my entertainment apps into one place, and allows me to save and sort them regardless of the type of media. The idea for this came about years ago when I was trying to create a personal organizational system. I wanted to build a dashboard I could easily access during idle time and browse through entertainment that I had saved to all of my apps/services (such as Goodreads, Instapaper, Netflix, etc.).
The problem was that I couldn’t find anything that fully fulfilled this. I initially tried building one in Notion with links to my profiles on different sites, and then searched for other potential tools, but nothing quite did the trick. Most similar tools I found were focused on one type of media, and I couldn’t find an easy way to bring them all together the way that I wanted, even using APIs.
What better way to solve a problem than to build your own solution?
I had initially wanted to create this mainly using JavaScript when I was taking a web development course in 2022, but found my skills were not quite up to par. Now, I have decided to build it using .NET/C# as a way to further develop the skills I use daily. With the help of AI, I’ll be able to build the blocks of the program much faster to create a working product.
The name “Project Loopbreaker” actually has little to do with the function of the program itself. It’s a name with a two-fold purpose: I can work on this program when I start to get into Imposter Syndrome-type loops; and, to help break myself out of mindless scrolling loops when I have leisure time. I could instead spend that time catching up on topics that interest me and the media that I’ve saved.
I’m hopeful that bringing Project Loopbreaker to fruition will not only be a solution to a problem that I’ve been trying to solve for a long time, but also a way to gain solid experience launching a web app from code to deployment. Since this is my first big personal coding project, I plan to share progress every week or so as a way to chart my learning and also maybe help other blossoming developers. I’m hoping to have a relatively finished product by the end of the summer.
Thank you for reading! I will see you again in a week or two with updates on progress. 🙂
Follow my journey on GitHub (github.com/rnacodes) and my portfolio website (raeccleston.com).
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