My Current Skillset - From 'Hello World' status, to 'Competent but out of practice' (April 2025)

Seems like a good time to share my skillset (or lack thereof):

Hello World Status

Rust

I started the official book late last year but in retrospect, I spent more time trying to legally compile the book than actually reading it. I have a fleeting understanding of the basics at best. I do want to get better at it and contribute to FOSS projects, but I have tabled that for now.

Javascript

A while back, I finished a very detailed online courses years ago and it gave me a fundamental understanding, but I never followed up w/ actual projects to strengthen/maintain what I learned. I couldn’t tell you much about JS at all ATM, but the ‘going under the hood’ aspect of that course did give me a good rough framework of programming languages as a concept, which is buried somewhere in my subconscious.

Slowly Getting Better

Python

I knocked out a Python Course ~5 years ago and never applied that either. I revisited Python in 2022 thanks to Pandas and Jupyterlab, but it was very package-specific and so I became more proficient in data analysis vs Python itself. The current book I’m reading has forced me out of my comfort zone though, so I have expanded my understanding around things beyond pandas/numpy/matplotlib/seaborn into more general concepts like list comprehension, packages/modules, class/methods, etc. Starting a journey towards proficiency in AI/ML definitely requires a deeper understanding of Python and I’m up for the challenge. I still struggle to write pure python, but I have gotten a lot better at following along w/ code to understand what is happening, even when it is initially intimdating.

Competent (but out of practice)

Spreadsheet Software

Big fan of Excel after realizing its potential at my last job. Used to write/tweak macros and automate reports with it. After I quit my last job, I haven’t really used the software tbh. I also transitioned to Linux and I’m not a fan of LibreOffice as a former Excel power-user, so I have used spreadsheets even less than I’d expected. I do like how replicate-able analysis in Pandas is versus Excel though, so I can’t see myself diving back into the software anytime soon.

SQL

I used to write SQL code at my last job. It’s not a ‘true’ programming language like the others, but it’s my fave. I remember occasionally getting in a flow-state writing code. I’ve been out of practice for the last few years so I need to double back here. There are advanced ideas that I forget and just simple ideas that don’t come as easily as they used to (ayo). A while back, I spun up SQL Server Management Studios in Docker so that I could run it in Debian, but I’ve since pivoted to FOSS-friendly database tools instead.

I plan on revisiting some SQL courses I already finished, and using a Linux-friendly version of Adventureworks to follow along. Alternatively, I might just replicate Jupyter notebook Analyses in SQL and host it all on GitHub.

That’s it for now, I’ll update as I make more progress {{ bluesky(post_id=3lmb7qdurfc2w }}