I've been working on a site for a new MMA training business, and most recently I've been working to set up a full connection to Stripe.  In the interest of getting a payment process set up quickly for the owner, the solution to that problem was to set up the products

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 http://api.stripe.com/products

and connect them to

  Stripe Prices

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to generate payment links , so that these products and prices could quickly be utilized while the website is being built. Now that the website is more put together, with Webhooks set up and recorded to be able to cross reference transactions and connect members accounts in the Postgres Database, to their corresponding stripe accounts, the next step was to modify the schema to handle all the necessary events.   

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Pull Request #7 has a summary of the modifications made, but the essential essence of what was done here was to set up the next phase of development, which is to enable more customization over the flow of processes on the site.  Models for Subscriptions, Prices, Invoices, Checkout Sessions, Products, Customers, etc. have been updated to reflect the necessary information to be recorded, and link the tables together in a way that makes sense. 

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Along with updating the schema, was to handle all appropriate webhook events with NextJS Server Actions, with a file for each corresponding table and their actions, to handle webhook events properly and completely.  

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After meeting with the business owner, the steps left for a minimum viable product are :

An Admin Dashboard, using most of the same server actions and some new ones to let the business owner be able to easily adjust products and prices, as well as connect memberships, without code or going through the Stripe dashboard.

Fleshing out the UI to include a page with the different programs and their decscriptions.

Adding a gallery to the site of videos and pictures of the team in action

Adding a view only account page instead of the current state, which is in form only.  This will be more user friendly and decrease any unintentional consequences.

Including an e-signable waiver for legal purposes, because of the physical nature of the program.

 

My name is Adam, and I'm the creator of this website.  It was a project I did with the Javascript Mastery Masterclass, with my partner Darshin, and our mentor Brandon E.  Brandon went AWOL after the course was wrapping up, but that is what it is.  I got my act together around 2016,  after floundering around through my 20s.  I didn't feel like I had much purpose up until then, doing odd manual labor jobs that didn't require what I consider my most useful skill, which is my intelligence and creativity. 

I took a job in a call center in 2016, and for the first few months I was just trying not to get fired.  After a few months on the job, I realized that I was actually pretty good at what I was doing, if I applied myself I could perform well above the level of "not getting fired" , and actually hit the top tier bonuses.  For the first time in my life I had a nice fat paycheck that represented the work I had put into the "art" of what I was doing at the time.  The art was no more than persuading people to set appointments to get their windows replaced.  The appointments were free, but we had to secure committments for both homeowners to be there (if it's a husband and wife situation, one party sets were a waste of the salespeoples time because of the kind of decision and money involved in the purchase that is being made).  

I became a top tier performer consistently at that, and was a leader in the office. I even coached one of the nepotist manager hires who was a great guy but didn't really know what he was doing, I sat near him everyday and helped him handle tough situations regularly.  I got a promotion to an Account Manager, where the job was a little different, but used the same skillls I acquired in the time I did the basic job.  I got the promotion because the manager's trusted me to handle tough situations, I worked there another full year, and due to what I saw as a cycle of winter layoffs, where people who were great employees but had a longer tenure than others, thereby wanting more money, get let go.  

I had watched this happen each of the 3 years I was there, I didn't imagine that I'd be on the side of that one day.  So just before the end. of 2018, my entire life, social circle, vocation, everything I lived and breathed for a few years, just vanished.  It hit me really hard, I didn't get out of bed for a month after that.  I was really mad, and everytime I heard some news about the office politics that were taking place out of my site, I got even angrier about it.  I tried to get another job working on the phone.

This new job I took in April 2019, was very vague in the kind of work I would be doing.  I was skeptical, but I needed a job so I took it.  It turned out to be basically trying to scam people into payday loans.  After a morning meeting where we were straight up encouraged to lie to potential clients, I had to quit.  I decided I'm too honest for sales, and I brought up the idea of going back to school.  I dropped out 10 credits short of a 2 yr business degree, way back in 2012.

I decided that this was a good path to go down, but I didn't want a business degree. I learned alot about business working at these jobs and just being a curious person, and I thought a business degree would be useless and also just doesn't suit my personality.  I grew up during the dawn of the internet, first with AOL, then with a regular dial up service, then in 1999 getting high speed internet from Optimum Online.  I had always wanted to build websites when I was younger, but I had undiagnosed ADHD as a kid, and never applied myself to it.  I also had become knowledgeable about IT over the years, so I wanted to challenge myself and went  for a BS in Computer Programming and Information Systems.   

My first semester, I missed getting straight A's by a hair.  I got the first of 2 3.87s I would get in the next 3 years, and then in spring of 2020, the world shut down.  Including my school.  I consider this to be a point in history that will be looked back on as triggering this cascade of events that dramatically altered lifestyles and people's paths irreparably. I also was forced to look at the news for the first time in my life, before this I read the newspaper for "fun" but had no opinion on what I was reading,  I was just reading to read.  I was reading at an early age and have always been able to just blow through any written words put in front of me.

Between the political and social turmoil of the last few years, I've managed to graduate college, get a job as a Full Stack Developer for an international corporation, andf lose that job. I was completely upfront in my interview, I hadn't even technically graduated yet, I had one day to decide on the offer they gave me.  I convinced myself I would be crazy to turn it down, and I still don't know if I made the right choice or not.  The job would have worked out had I not been the sole person responsible for everything with no help, on the coding side of things.  I also had my confidence undermined as soon as I was put in that situation, and I just was stressed out.  I even went to therapy the last few weeks I worked there, and started to meditate.  A practice I still do to this day, sometimes multiple times a day.

 

I've spent 2023 and 2024 upgrading my skills and figuring this whole developer thing out.  I've become a more disciplined person, a more knowledgeable and resourceful person, and also more resilient.  I'm currently working on a site for my buddy who is a martial arts coach, at https://mantissportsllc.com - which features stripe payments.  I plan on finishing it within the next 2 weeks.  I'll add a part to this introduction, but for now, this is where I'm at.  Trying to get my software career off the ground.

 

I got some good advice that says to "Learn in Public" , so this is what I'm using this platform to do.  I created it, why not use it?  I can both write and record audio to share my knowledge, and it's social proof that I know what I'm talking about if used correctly.  I got the idea from "The Coding Career Handbook" , which I recommend anyone with a coding career to read.  So I will be posting my daily goings on, things I've learned, things I want to do, things I plan to do, and things I know how to do with anyone who wants to see them.

 

See ya next time!

 

Adam Gordon - Administrator of this website

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