MEET THE LOOPERS: A DEVELOPER UNDER DEVELOPMENT
“Hello world”!
I am Sikander and I’m one of three current software developers here at Proxloop, Inc. I’ve been working here since September, but got a late start with this blogging concept. When I’m not working as developer for Proxloop, I’m a master’s student under the faculty of Information Technology at the University of Oslo. This my first time writing a blog, anywhere, so bear with me.
Ingvild first approached me on LinkedIn back in June, and after a long and grueling interview process, I was one of the lucky few who was chosen to become a “Looper”. It’s actually a funny thing: I was first approached because of my knowledge in Java, but by the time I was hired, Proxloop had pivoted to developing their back-end and front-end in Ruby on Rails instead. It is a framework for rapid prototyping, which I had no prior knowledge in. So obviously, I am very grateful to Ingvild and Øistein for giving me a chance, and our VP of Engineering for being so patient with me during this whole dev process.
Henrik and I are two months into the development process and even though we had a slow start, due to both expected and unexpected reasons, we finally have the ball rolling without too many serious obstacles in our path. There are still some bumps here and there occasionally, but nothing we can’t overcome with the VP on our side. From a developer’s perspective, our VP really shows that he’s more than qualified for this job. I admire both his work ethic and the talent he has as an experienced developer. His approach of explaining something, may it be a concept, a method, a functionality or whatever, is always done in a very academic way. This obviously says a lot about his understanding of the field.
We are currently two weeks deep into our second sprint, and holding a steady course. Every day I learn something new, and almost every day I get stuck somewhere. This, I think, is the main reason for my steep learning curve. Also contributing to my steep learning curve is the fact that I have to balance work and school, where both demand assignments due each week. So, I have to hustle to get the mandatory school assignments complete and filed. And at the same time add, commit and push my Proxloop work so that it can be reviewed, QA’d and then either declared, approved or “need a nth look”.
All in all, working here has been a great learning experience so far. I’ve gotten to know some really interesting people and I’m excited about what the future holds for us and for me as developer.
