From Lonely Freelancer to a
Team Orientated Lead Developer
Becoming a Bunkr Warrior
I’ve been working in IT for roughly 10 years as a multipurpose developer, seven years for IT companies and almost four as a freelancer.
During my time as a freelancer, I spent most of my time at Seine Innopolis, where I worked for startup companies. I was eating lunch at the cafeteria, just like any other day, and Alexis (Bunkr’s CEO) sat next to me and began talking about how he was looking for a new Lead Developer for his team. When I initially heard about the position, I thought about letting some of my friends know, although since I was such a fan of the company, I decided to approach Alexis myself. Bunkr is pretty well known in Rouen and was beginning to grow around the time as well, which is why I thought it was a good opportunity for me.
New Project. New Experience.
After working as a freelancer for almost four years, it was a tad different working with a team and working for a startup, since Bunkr is the first startup company that I have ever worked for. Unlike the freelance work I’ve been doing the past years, this was finally a job that I could focus on a single project, rather than on various small projects. To this day I remember how I felt when I first began working here, I had a great sense of pride for having a new challenge and being able to face it with a team.
Five days after I arrived, the whole team took a trip to Nantes for three days. It was definitely a memorable experience, something I haven’t experienced with a work team before. The house we stayed in had a pool and it was really fun, to say the least, but also a great experience to get to know the team better.
Just like any person arriving at a new environment, I had to figure out my “place” at Bunkr. It took around one (maybe two) months for me to finally get used to the company and working with a team. Fortunately for me, I was able to easily click with Luc and Thomas, who ended up becoming the team members I would work closely with.
I wasn’t the only one going through changes at the time, Bunkr was growing quickly as well. From a team of three they became a team of ten (including interns) in a matter of weeks. Three of the new team members had a vast amount of experience (Luc, Thomas and myself).
Working as a Team
Just like many other companies, we chose to store our code repositories on Git because of their flexible source control management tool. We chose to use a simplified Git Flow so, when we’re working together, we can easily assign tasks to someone else after we’re done with a feature.
Since we first started working on the new version of Bunkr, we kept in mind that all of the application’s components must be loosely coupled. This means that every component interacts very little with one another. The entire application is divided in small parts that can easily and independently be maintained. Each feature only requires that we work on a few files to make it function, without messing with the rest of the app.
Since we work in Git branches, Thomas and I are always reviewing the code before merging them. We also need to let Luc know so he can review the CSS and HTML related code.
Where I believe We’re Headed
“Rien n’est éternel…Nothing Lasts Forever”
The team is bound to grow. With more people on the team it’s evident that the team will become more like other teams. Despite that being bound to happen, I’m confident we’ll be able to maintain a fun atmosphere, create new memories and focus on our goal, become the best presentation platform available.
