Strategic Approach
Treat the pack as a systems lab. Each semester pick one vertical: Auth, Observability, Scaling, Security.
Core Tool Combos
- Codespaces + Docker → Container fluency.
- CI + Snyk + Dependabot → Secure supply chain narrative.
- PlanetScale / MongoDB + Prisma → Data modelling comparison.
- Railway / Render + CDN → Edge deployment exploration.
Project Ladder
1. Monolith REST API with tests.
2. Split a service (e.g., grade forecasting) into microservice + message queue.
3. Add background job (report generation / GPA prediction).
4. Introduce observability (structured logs + basic metrics endpoint).
Interview Story Framing
*"Using the Student Pack I simulated production conditions (CI, scanning, container deploys) to ship a multi-service academic tracking platform."*
Immediate Action
Add a CI badge + security scan badge to one existing repo – small visual credibility boost.