How Shipup helps me grow as a full-stack web developer
Thriving at work is one of today’s top well-being priorities for workers and organizations. To achieve this, companies need to help their employees grow. This is even more important today, as web development is evolving at a very fast pace.
That’s why Shipup has decided to set up many programs for its technical team, so they can keep learning, practicing, and making sure that everyone is thriving and growing in the team.
Pair programming
Pair programming plays a large role in the growth and learning process. At Shipup, we are paired with someone for two weeks, during which we have to do at least two hours of pair programming. Ideally, each person will be the navigator for one hour, then switch to be the driver for the next hour.
To make things easier, one of our developers built a small algorithm that creates pairs based on how long people it’s been since you’ve last been paired with someone. This is something he built during his slack time, another program at Shipup 😉
And after a few months, each developer will have been paired with all the others. This is a great opportunity for everyone to:
- share best practices
- give and receive advice
- deep dive into little-known parts of the codebase
- be exposed to different coding styles
Overall, pair programming has been one of the most effective ways to share knowledge across the team.
We decided to keep the pair programming topics as open as possible. They can be used to work on sprint tasks, technical shapings, or even bug fixing. We think that all topics are an opportunity for learning.
As a junior developer, this program is extremely valuable. I’ve learned new ways of solving problems, improved my coding style, and worked on new parts of the codebase. By working with more senior developers, I’m now more effective on my job, but most importantly, I’m much more confident.
Slack time
Every month, each developer has a full day of slack time. During this day, developers can work on the subject of their choice.
Typically, there are three main topics:
- Learning
Like many SaaS companies, Shipup uses different stacks like Ruby on Rails, Golang, ReactJS, Docker, Kubernetes, CircleCI, AWS, GCP, Elasticsearch, etc. And mastering every aspect of each stack requires a significant time investment.
This is why slack time is a great opportunity to learn or improve our knowledge on specific topics.
- Coding side feature
Sometimes, we want to improve part of the codebase or add a small new feature to Shipup. This is how we’ve improved our background migration process, add the Shipup status page, etc.
- Work on Shipup side projects
We can also work on Shipup side projects, which is quite a change from coding, and we’ll take a look at these projects in the next section.
Personally, during my first months at Shipup, I used my slack time to first familiarize myself with the codebase. I then learned Go, read books on object-oriented coding, and studied Elasticsearch API.
I really enjoy slack time as I can strengthen my skills at my own pace and make sure I fully understand all the concepts.
Projects
As mentioned before, Shipup offers the possibility to work on side projects which don’t involve coding.
The best example I can share is the new blog that Shipup launched at the end of 2021. I’m currently part of this project, and this very article is one of my contributions to the project. You can see all our tech and product articles here!
Another example is the reshaping of our tech recruiting process. Some developers decided to participate, give feedback and build the new process.
There are projects to build training for the tech team or the rest of the company. We’ve made one on SQL to help our Customer Success team to be able to make SQL requests and have all the data they need.
Lately, I’ve been working a lot on Elasticsearch, so I have decided to build training for the technical team in order to share my knowledge.
I really like the fact that I can work on writing articles, building a course, improving some processes, etc. It’s a great opportunity to develop new skills which can be complementary to coding.
Mentoring
Shipup also has a mentoring system to guide newcomers through the codebase and the company’s processes.
As a mentee, you will be able to ask your questions (there are no dumb questions), ask for help when stuck in your task, and be guided through our tech process (daily meetings, sprint meetings, etc.)
As a mentor, you will share your experience, your knowledge of the company, and the codebase, but most of all you will get to know our newcomers!
Mentoring is, after all, about the people, getting to know each other, and being part of the amazing technical team 😁.
I was lucky to have a great mentor! She has been guiding me through my first months at Shipup with daily meetings. She helped me get comfortable with the codebase, introduced me to the different teams, and was always there when I had questions.
Training
Finally, Shipup has decided that the member of the technical team should dedicate between 5 to 10% of their time on training.
You can have access to books, online courses, external training, or event conferences. Each developer can build their training journey to fit their needs and the needs of the company.
To conclude
Working at Shipup gives you the chance to learn, work on diverse projects, and be part of the company’s vibrant social life. Of course, these programs are constantly evolving based on the team’s feedback, and to match our needs.
I really appreciate all the ways Shipup is helping me grow as a Junior Web Developer.
Interested to start a new challenge at Shipup ? We’re hiring! Check out our job openings at careers.shipup.co
