It’s another Potluck! In this episode, Scott and Wes answer your questions about corn shucking, self-hosting images, WordPress, getting scammed, portfolios, more! Linode - Sponsor Whether you’re working on a personal project or managing enterprise infrastructure, you deserve simple, affordable, and accessible cloud computing solutions that allow you to take your project to the next level. Simplify your cloud infrastructure with Linode’s Linux virtual machines and develop, deploy, and scale your modern applications faster and easier. Get started on Linode today with a $100 in free credit for listeners of Syntax. You can find all the details at linode.com/syntax. Linode has 11 global data centers and provides 24/7/365 human support with no tiers or hand-offs regardless of your plan size. In addition to shared and dedicated compute instances, you can use your $100 in credit on S3-compatible object storage, Managed Kubernetes, and more. Visit linode.com/syntax and click on the “Create Free Account” button to get started. Sentry - Sponsor If you want to know what’s happening with your code, track errors and monitor performance with Sentry. Sentry’s Application Monitoring platform helps developers see performance issues, fix errors faster, and optimize their code health. Cut your time on error resolution from hours to minutes. It works with any language and integrates with dozens of other services. Syntax listeners new to Sentry can get two months for free by visiting Sentry.io and using the coupon code TASTYTREAT during sign up. Auth0 - Sponsor Auth0 is the easiest way for developers to add authentication and secure their applications. They provides features like user management, multi-factor authentication, and you can even enable users to login with device biometrics with something like their fingerprint. Not to mention, Auth0 has SDKs for your favorite frameworks like React, Next.js, and Node/Express. Make sure to sign up for a free account and give Auth0 a try with the link below. https://a0.to/syntax Show Notes 02:55 - Hey guys, I love the podcast! This is a silly question and possibly the least important potluck question you’ll ever get. When you get a new Apple device like an iPhone, Apple Watch, or Macbook Pro… do you keep the box? Why or why not? 06:56 - Hey guys! Awesome podcast! Could you go over the advantages and disadvantages of using local images vs external images service (e.g. Cloudinary) for displaying images on a web app? 11:26 - Heyyyy Scott and Wes! 40-year-old lady here looking to make a career change. It’s taken me a year plus, but after building several tutorial React apps, I finally built a fullstack JavaScript app of my own, with lots of rad Postgres database stuff, a bunch of secure Node/Express API endpoints, role-based access control, fancy Oauth, and of course the latest React tech (context, hooks, etc). I’m pretty proud of it. I even managed to configure Nginx and deploy it to AWS. The only problem is…it looks like crap. My portfolio site itself is pretty darn slick, since I used a gorgeous Gatsby template that required only a bit of tweaking. But the site I architected and worked so hard to bring to life? It looks like an 8-bit game for toddlers, a responsive yet Bootstrapy game. My question: does this matter? I would hope that this project shows off my backend skills, but I’m afraid they’ll judge a book by its cover. (I guess a second question would be: how do you show off your backend skills? I have a README in my repo, but will they actually read it? Or, can you be a fullstack React developer with no design skills?) I am very, VERY ready to apply to jobs (emotionally and financially), but I am terrified of making a fool of myself and worried I’ll never get hired. I am completely self-taught and have just been plugging away at this on my own for the duration of the pandemic, so I send a massive thank you to you guys for the sense of community that your show provides! Props to Wyze sprinkler