Why I launched this project
After building dozens of WordPress websites I wanted to learn a new technology and tech stack. I have a very strong interest in SaaS and figured a true application was the next step in learning more about programming.
I researched several different flavors of application frameworks and decided to learn Ruby on Rails. I found a couple of tutorials online and started to learn how to code RoR apps.
Our company had recently implemented S.M.A.R.T goals so I figured it would be a simple CRUD operation I could produce in an application. I never intended to make it a paid product but thought it would be cool to see users sign up and use it.
Highlights 👍
- Launched my first RoR project to a production server
- Learned how to create views and models (very different from WordPress)
- Learned how to host a sales site and application in the same code base
Lowlights 👎
- This application is missing some critical functionality
- I never figured out how to be notified if someone signed up
- Very little configuration on the backend
Going forward
I have no plans to pick this project back up. I am sure it would be quite the chore to make sure the dependencies are up to date. Although this is active and hosted on Heroku, I have no future plans to improve this project.
Biggest Insights
Ruby on Rails is a really awesome framework. Applications, however complex need to be really good a core set of features or functions. After that everything else is a slight variation or a marketing angle to do something.