u/zahirulopel

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for guidance on how to transition from building basic CRUD apps to more complex, real-world systems.

My Current Experience: I’ve built a blog ecosystem consisting of three parts:

1. Main App: A frontend where users view posts and authorized users can manage comments. code
2. Author App: A dedicated portal for authors to authenticate, create, and publish content. code
3. API: A central backend managing all business logic. Code

I have built this architecture using Express.js with PostgreSQL, and I have also built a similar version using Next.js.

The Goal: I want to dive deeper into complex application architecture. My current plan is to:

1. Watch a high-level project tutorial.
2. Build the project alongside the tutorial, then build it start to finish without looking at the tutorial.
3. Build a similar, original project from scratch to solidify the concepts.

My Questions:

• Is this a good learning approach, or should I change my strategy?
• Should I focus my practice on Next.js or a decoupled Express + React setup to best prepare for the industry?
• What are the "must-know" concepts for building complex, production-ready apps?

Thanks for the help!