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5 Awesome Repositories for Tech Enthusiasts and Professionals

Accidentally, I discovered a small “hack” to quickly find large, curated lists of resources for subjects I was interested in exploring more deeply.

Almost always, this will reveal one (or more) well curated lists on GitHub that provide an ample springboard into your obsession of the moment.

The trick: Simply search for “Awesome [insert thing you’re interested in.]”

I learned about so many neat projects this way and wanted to share 5 that I found most helpful or inspiring as a self-proclaimed techie. I hope these will help you too and maybe kick off your next project or techventure.

Awesome ChatGPT Prompts

As someone trying to learn prompt engineering (clear communication,) I’ve found one of the better ways for me to learn is to look at other examples and try to deconstruct why they may work well.

If you’re trying to branch into a new topic, or are looking for some prompt inspiration, I’ve found this repo an alright place to start.

Things I Like

1. There’s a reasonable amount of variety in the subject matter.
2. The repo author provides a nice launching pad for someone experimenting with prompting for the first time.
3. Prompt creators are attributed.

Things I Wish Were Different

1. There is a fair bit of advertising and self-promotion at the top of the readme.
2. I wish there was a table of contents by category (arts, etc.) to make searching a bit easier.
3. It seems there’s only the “act as” variety of prompts.
4. The depth of each is variable (the statistician one left me a little sad as a trained statistician.)
5. A lot of these seem to follow an older style as many prompts I’m seeing now are mutli-stage or several paragraphs long.
6. Multimodal prompts seem to not be highlighted.
7. The linked ChatGPT Prompt Generator didn’t load for me despite several attempts.

Overall, this resource was still helpful for me to figure out what better prompts than “help, please help” look like. I also enjoyed the range of covered subject matter. If you’re newer to prompt engineering, then this should be an okay starting point.

Awesome Machine Learning

Sometimes, the number of libraries you’re expected to at least have passing awareness of as someone in the data analytics space can be immense.

Having a “quick reference” list of curated libraries as well as learning and networking resources can be invaluable and something this repo does well.

Things I Like

1. I was trained in academic ML using Python/R, so it was nice to see different options in other languages.
2. Having a curated starting point for networking events was great!
3. Similarly, other blogs and resources was a great touch to expand my knowledge of this “universe.”
4. Indication of depreciated libraries was super helpful.
5. A clean table of contents.

Things I Wish Were Different

1. Sometimes inspiration is as useful as reference resources. If there was one additional link to interesting projects, I’d have zero gripes.

Overall, I think whether you’re trying to learn the field, or have been around in it for a bit, this can be a highly valuable “cheat sheet.”

Awesome Data

I’ve grown to despise the phrase “data is the new oil” — although both the positive and negative implications of that analogy seem to pan out daily.

That being said, data can be fun to explore just because, as a way to open the door to a well-paying set of skills, or to help you answer a burning question about the world.

There are MANY repositories of datasets, but I feel this is one of the better ones that I’ve come across that hasn’t been discussed to death (like Kaggle.)

To check it out for yourself, you should visit the repo.

Things I Like

1. There seems to be a wide spread of commonly used data types/categories.
2. Many of the sets seem well curated, but still leave opportunities to explore data cleaning, normalization, and feature extraction.
3. Table of contents was simple and clean

Things I Wish Were Different

1. While I appreciate the funnel to the author’s website, the two+ clicks to get the data I want is more friction than I’d like from this type of repo (e.g. I see dataset, I click dataset, I get dataset.)

While the datasets contained within are still fairly common, the presentation is a bit cleaner than some other sites and opens the door to further exploration without worrying as much about data quality. If you’re newer to the data game, this could be a great launchpad to hone your skills.

Awesome Self Hosted

If you’ve ever heard of self-hosting and thought, it was neat but thought “but what can I do with it” then this repo is a great resource for you.

In addition to many of the more common players (Pi-hole, TrueNas, Jellyfin/Plex, etc.) there are some more “stealth” options in this list that I’ve really enjoyed getting to know. Whether you’re starting a Home lab/Home server from scratch, or are looking for new things to try, I think you should bookmark this repo.

Things I Like

1. Very comprehensive table of contents.
2. Broad range of interests represented.
3. Listing the license and development language(s) was a nice touch.
4. Appreciate the warning of things/features that FOSS supporters may not like.

Things I Wish Were Different

1. Sometimes finding what I want can feel overwhelming.
2. A couple of the projects listed appeared depreciated, but there wasn’t an indication without clicking over.

This was the repository that kicked off my “awesome hunt” and resparked some joy in tech for me. If you’re looking to start a new hobby or breathe new life into your existing setup, this may be the one-stop source for you.

Awesome Maker

I can’t be the only one that gets inspired by Adam Savage’s yearly “sermons” at Maker Faire Bay Area — right?

If you’re similiarly inspired, but not sure where to begin as a maker who loves tech and electronics, then you should give this repo a gander.

Things I Like

1. It lists resources for inspiration, creation, and knowledge gathering.
2. Digestible and well formatted list.
3. All of the links appeared alive.

Things I Wish Were Different

1. For this article, the tech angle makes sense, but I’d love some appreciation for other facets of making like fiber arts or woodcrafts.

I believe you’d benefit most from this resource as someone new to the world of making. If you’ve been around a while, this one may be a little too “basic.” However, I think that having a nice spot where common resources are linked in one place is handy regardless of your experience level.

Bonus: Public API List

This is included as a bonus because it broke the “awesome” theme of the post, but it’s too good a resource to not include. There’s always one…

That being said, I was also able to find it using the “awesome api” search format/trick briefly mentioned in the introduction.

Things I Like

1. Organization is great. It has a table of contents that then leads to a condensed table of links and a return to index link.
2. Large spread of topics that would apply to both enterprise/professionals and the hobbyist.
3. Key extra features included in the tables like the auth type, HTTPS, and CORS capabilities.

Things I Wish Were Different

1. It does exactly as advertised on the tin in a non-intrusive way. I think anything extra would detract here.

As API’s play an increasingly important role in both personal projects as well as professional objectives, having an entire buffet of options to choose from to practice with is incredibly valuable.

As a novice or student, you’ll have your share of appealing entry points. As a professional, this repo may be another quick reference location to find just the API you need for proof of concept or a project.

Wrapping Up

I was pleasantly surprised at just how fair this simple hack got me and the high-quality lists I found. While not highlighted here, I found this trick also works for areas outside of tech, although admittedly with a lower hit rate.

Whether you are looking for a way to burn time or to find a new resource, I’d highly recommend you try this trick!

Are there any awesome repositories I missed that you would like to share? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Note: Opinions expressed here are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect those of my employers.