Meeting the Adproval Team and Getting Started
Adproval is a startup focused on connecting brands and social media users together. Today is my tenth day interning as a Front End Designer and Developer at the Adproval office in Bloomington, Indiana and I have already learned a lot.
Setting Up a Local Dev Environment
Before last week I had never tried setting up a local development environment. My prior experience had consisted of creating basic static HTML pages but now I am being pushed to design and develop dynamic pages in HAML and Sass. Getting all the necessary software programs on my computer installed and working sucked. The Adproval team uses Vagrant in order to connect to the developers environment. Although Vagrant helps speed up the process it still has some quirks that me and the team have had to figure out along the way.
Working with a Team
I have never designed or developed with other team members before. Learning how everyone works together in order to develop a web app is an interesting and exciting experience. I have realized the importance of planning ahead, staying organized, and communicating thoroughly with other team members. I am quickly learning how to use software such as Jira, Bitbucket, Source Tree, Trello, and Google Apps.
Asking Questions
I hate asking questions and bothering others just as much as the next guy but I have realized that is an important aspect of learning anything in life. Here Adproval I have been fortunate enough to have a wonderful group of mentors that can quickly answer my questions and help me along as I learn the ropes. Thanks Matthew, Eric, Joe, and Peter!
Tracking Time and Staying Focused
Early on during the first week of the internship Matthew, the founder of Adproval, introduced the intern team to a time management technique called the Pomodoro Technique. The technique uses simple 25 minute blocks of time where you focus on a task and then rest for 5 minutes. You continue doing this repetitively throughout the day in the hopes of being more productive with your time. So far I have had a hard time adjusting to the method but I can see the benefits once I get in the hang of using it more.
Designing a New About Page
Right away I was assigned the task of building out pages for the new Adproval website. My first task was to design and develop a new “About” page for the site. Here below you can see my first go at sketching out the page:
Food Truck Friday Rocks
Every Friday here in Bloomington food trucks park right beside the Adproval office to have Food Truck Friday. So. Many. Lunch. Options.
Looking Forward to the Rest of the Summer
After two weeks I have had the opportunity to dive right in with the design and development team and get my hands dirty. Looking towards the rest of the summer I am excited to learn more and help contribute to building the Adproval software!
