My current tech stack of November 2021

11/10/2021

This post is not focused on another tool I just discovered, but take stock of the self taught cycle I experiment in the tech industry.

Context

I realized the other day I didn't feel connexions anymore with the Vue.js Ecosystem since I started using Next.js at the beginning of the year.

Though, I felt really involved and read anything I could about Vue that could keep me up to date for more than 2 years!

Now, the same thing is happening with Next.js: I subscribe to any content/event I can to build as much knowledge as possible on it...until I found something more relevant, who knows?

Starting over and over...

When I decide to switch to another tech, it comes with a lot of dedicated time to build a valuable experience, and I often tell myself it's the definitive one to justify the effort.

I would say it's worth the time spent if we can leverage this knowledge for at least a couple of solid projects and preferably several years.

Ideally, I feel good when I start architecturing and building stuff in a flow state, without being stuck on every decision.

This is slowly happening with Next.js, even if the pace of release keep challenging me a bit too often, but that is also what is exciting at the end 😍.

The stack I'm confortable with:

As it is stated on the featured image, here are a quick list of the tools I use on a day-to-day basis:

Design

Because I'm also often asked to make the design:

Sketch: Still the MacOS reference to me, despite having used Figma a little.
Illustrator: Essential to edit vectors and create in a proper visual way.
After Effects: Indispensable for every serious motion design work.
Photoshop: It tend to dislike it more and more but is still relevant for every pixel editing work.

Frontend

What I try to specialize in:

Next.js: My beloved tool, ultra versatile, on the edge, with a justified exploding popularity.
Tailwind CSS: Still happier than ever with the utility class approach it offers.
React Hook Form: I switched from Formik to this one, very concise and more performant.
Framer Motion: Endless animation possibilites and React dedicated.
Cypress: Very user-friendly doc + gratifying test playground.

Backend

Because we also need to work with data and micro-services:

Node.js: Essentially used in the Next.js api route context as serveless + it's JS.
Strapi: I found something free and flexible with this headless CMS, very simple API.
Firebase: The easiest way to work with user authentication and client-side writings.

Devops

Because we need to deploy our app somewhere:

Vercel: The newcomer in my stack regarding static hosting, work hand-to-hand with Next.js.
Netlify: I still really like it, but it's less suitable to work with Next.js.
Heroku: THe easiest way to deploy a Node.js app.