This post was originally published on April 15, 2020 on my blog.

Spent yesterday following a tutorial for setting up Firebase as a backend database, and I'm so loving it! Every time I learn something new with code and web development, it simply blows my mind.

I think the most important thing as you're learning to code is the fact that simply being aware of what tools you have at your disposal will help you so incredibly much through solving any problems that pop up.

My plan for today is to finish up learning the ins and outs of Firebase/Firestore and then learn how to set up user authorization so that I can start implementing sign-up functionality on my app.

Oh - I guess I haven't mentioned the overall idea of it. Essentially, the app will be a tool that keeps people connected to their friends and loved ones with automated suggestions about who to contact on a certain day.

The user will create an account, create a list of all the individual people they want to be reminded to contact, as well as the frequency of desired reminders (i.e. once a week, twice a month, etc).

After I get the database structure organized and set up, I'll start to play around with hooking a Twilio API up to it. At this point, I think the simplest thing to do would be to enable SMS alerts for users.

Really, really, really excited about it.

And to end this post, here's some inspiration from the label of a really great bottle of wine we recently treated outselves to:

BENE FACIT ID QUOD BENE MAT: You only do well what you know well

Keep learning, keep doing. Fall in love with the process and it'll become a part of who you are.