bjoerns

We use Flask + MongoDB + Heroku at Spreadgit (http://www.spreadgit.com). Was meant to serve as an MVP initially but so far it's been awesome. as your project grows you can replace your module with packages etc. if you're going with PostgreSQL maybe it's worthwhile looking at Flask-SQLAlchemy?

Flask + MongoDB

One of my biggest issues when starting to write new code on my own is that I find myself quite often being carried away. So what I force myself to do these days is to write down a few user stories, nothing too fancy but just to have an outline of what I really want to do. Next steps are unit tests and then coding up the model which goes hand in hand with db design. Putting together the UI is another one that requires a lot of discipline as I often find it too tempting fiddling around with design details instead of putting together the functionality first and do the design bit in the end. So yeah, after models build controllers and the views, not worrying too much about the looks. Just my way of doing things, would be interested in other peoples approaches!

I'm working on a revision control system for spreadsheets (http://www.spreadgit.com) so people can sort out their Excel mess, ie. track changes, diff and eventually merge versions like you'd do with code.

I'd say improve your JS skills, if your aim is to work as a web developer then that's where things are going. Get your head around some JS framework like AngularJS or backbone. Alternatively, Ruby always comes in handy (have a look at Sinatra first before you jump onto Rails). Alternatively, Python is useful, too, though I guess it's not the primary choice when it comes to web development (have a look at Python flask). hope this helps.

this is awesome, I really like it. I hold a JAR-PPL(A) and the cost of hiring a simple Cessna 152 is just ridiculous (same goes for buying) - bearing in mind that it's technology from about 30-40 years ago... I am amazed by the operational costs of the SD-1. Just out of interest, what fuel does the engine run on? Avgas, Mogas (never really looked into UL)?

JavaScript is (sort of) what Visual Basic used to be back in the 90s...

Simon & Garfunkel (I'm in my mid thirties though)

I can relate to your situation. I quit my very well paid i-banking job last week as I had no passion whatsoever and started really hating what I was doing. I was full of plans but a few months into it I realised that what I was aiming for was too big a job. It took me another few months of starting out different, almost random things (without ever getting anywhere) before I recently, nearly by chance, stumbled across an idea that was small enough to build a prototype for in a couple of weeks and seems to have hit some real demand out there. It's a github like thing for spreadsheets that allows people to do diffs and stuff on their spreadsheets. And here's the irony of the story. My old job that I hated so much involved a lot of Excel monkey work. When I quite my job, it never even occured to me that this could be a useful thing as I was chasing some high-flying fancy idea. And the fact that I didn't have financial pressure didn't help much either as there was never really the need to get something off the ground quickly. So the short of it is, (though I don't feel like I'm really in a position to give you any advice), maybe you can find something that makes use of what you did before? Even though it might look like a tiny little problem not worth pursuing? There's so much talk about building something disruptive these days that the little problems people deal with get overlooked so easily. And quite often it doesn't have to be a cutting edge complex engineering solution. So, please, don't give up and don't look back. If you hated what you were doing, it's not worth it.

I guess, the first question is Python vs Ruby. I use either and don't have a strong view to be honest unless you do so number crunching in which case Python offers more in terms of libraries. As to which webframework to use, RoR is indeed a bit like a fat man but so is Django. If you're new to web dev, I'd say go with something lightweight, ie. web2py or even flask in the Python world or Sinatra in the Ruby world.

not sure if they are the best, but I've read about blinkist a while back (http://www.blinkist.com/en/). apparently their app uses some smart nlp magic to give people summaries of non-fictional texts/books.

hi Jakub, definitely worth doing. In terms of making your blog more efficient, how about putting the code examples side by side (looking at your Python/MongoDB API snippets)? I know it's visually probably a bit harder but I guess it makes pros and cons etc more obvious. Just my two cents...