If a picture's worth a thousand words...
A Portfolio is worth a thousand résumés.
It has been said that the traditional résumé has 30 seconds to avoid the recycle bin. In today's competitive job market, I'd wager that is down to 10 seconds... and that just for the first 25 résumés that meet the minimum criteria. Add to that the ease with which one can obtain the assistance of an artificial intelligence co-author (or primary author) and the value of a traditional résumé is almost nil. A portfolio, on the other hand, offers a dynamic and multifaceted representation of an individual’s professional journey, making it a far more useful tool in showcasing one’s expertise and accomplishments. Unlike a résumé, a portfolio can encompass a diverse array of tangible examples, such as project work, case studies, writing samples, designs, presentations, and more. You will find all that here.
A portfolio provides a visual narrative that allows potential employers to witness the practical application of an individual’s skills and talents. Common in creative fields like graphic design, writing, or marketing, a portfolio should become the norm for fields like software development and information security as well. After-all, it is one thing to say that you know how to write a REST API, but it is another thing all together to demonstrate such code in action and to have the freedom to share the source code with whomever one chooses.
innoLab.ca is my portfolio. It is written from scratch using Java (Spring Boot), Thymeleaf, JavaScript, and CSS. A very significant amount of the code is written following Test Driven Development (TDD) principles. The code is hosted on GitHub and is available for review upon request. The site is secured using Spring Security with the API sections secured by Request Tokens. I chose not to use OAuth 2 as I didn't feel it afforded me the level of control I was looking for. However, that decision was only made after developing a stand-alone OAuth 2 application.
Breaking it down
Portfolio Technology Highlights
Java 21
The main reason I chose Java 21 is to gain access to Virtual Threads. My setup is small, but with multiple containers running, it could very quickly overload my old PC-come-Server.
Spring Framework
- Spring Boot
- Spring Security
- Spring Cloud
- Cloud Config
- Cloud Gateway
- Spring Actuator
- Spring Data JPA
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- animate
- bootstrap
- webfonts
- fa
- owlcarousel
Javascript
- animate
- bootstrap
- counterup
- easing
- fa
- owlcarousel
- waypoints
- wow
MySQL
My choice is mainly based on familiarity. However, MYSQL is known for its speed and reliability for small datasets like mine. On a larger project, I may have chosen PostgresSQL.
Postgres
Docker
- This project comprises eleven docker containers.
- Five for each Production and Development, and one for the Gateway.
- All containers are deployed into a user-defined bridge network to facilitate communication.
Swagger
Swagger is a very popular tool for generating OpenAPI documentation. I've never used it before, so this seemed like an excellent opportunity to learn.
Linux
- Ubuntu is my preferred Linux desktop. I have it running on my Chromebook in the Developer Tools environment.
- Alpine linux is what I chose for my Docker containers. Though I don't have any evidence for my opinion, I feel it should be lighter than Ubuntu.
Windows 10
My server is also my home desktop computer, my media server, and my development workstation. I prefer Linux, but some of the applications that I need are not available yet.
Artificial Intelligence
- I am hosting Ollama on my server to take advantage of the privacy it offers, and to avoid the financial cost of commercial LLMs.
- I have developed two AI Chatbots.
- I have developed a Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solution.
- I have begun the foray into Machine Learning with my Fingerprint solution.
Github
Beyond being my preferred source repository, my Spring Cloud Config server retrieves the configuration files from my private repository.
Google Cloud APIs
- Mail API
- reCAPTCHA v3 API
- OAuth API
PowerShell
Since my main development environment is Windows, I use PowerShell for my scripting. Also, I have used PowerShell quite often in the past, and want to keep my skills sharp.
The Gimp
The Gimp (Gnu Image Manipulation Program) is a very powerful pixel image editor. It is Open Source and free to use. I strongly recommend it for anyone who needs to edit images... especially if you don't want to pay for Photoshop.
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Inkscape
Inkscape is a very powerful vector graphics editor. It is Open Source and free to use. Vector graphics are scalable, so they maintain their visual integrity at almost all sizes, without an increase in file size. Beyond editing vector graphics, I use it to convert pixel art into vector graphics.