My First Year at Phase2

How I Got Here

Recently I celebrated my one year anniversary at Phase2. In fact, this also marked my one year anniversary writing code professionally. Just a few years ago I was bartending and trying to figure out what came next. I had been working in the service industry for twelve years and while I enjoyed many aspects of the work, I was ready for something different. 

Around that time I learned that a few of my regulars were attending a coding bootcamp up the street. I hadn’t considered a career in coding, but after hearing about the successes of recent graduates of the program, I decided to look into it. I began some introductory web development classes online and quickly fell in love with the problem solving and creative aspects. 

A couple months later I dropped everything I was doing and enrolled in the program. After six intense months I was released back into the wild where I continued to hone my craft and look for work. I also began attending meetups to network with other people that were in the industry. This is where I met several employees of Phase2 and I was drawn in by the excitement and passion they had for their work. I decided that these were the type of people I wanted to work with and Phase2 was the company I wanted to work for. After a lot of hard work and persistence I was given a chance to interview at Phase2 and I was beyond excited when I was offered a job soon thereafter. 

It’s been a long journey to get here and I’ve learned a lot since starting at Phase2. I wanted to take a moment and reflect on some of the things that have contributed to my success as I continue to grow as a developer.

Building Sustainable Codebases

Outside of a couple team projects during the coding bootcamp, all my projects prior to joining Phase2 were a solo effort. While building these projects taught me a lot about code and design patterns, I didn’t have much experience seeing what was involved with making these scale. I also didn’t have to put much consideration into having other developers working alongside me in the codebase. Jumping into projects and tooling here, I quickly learned what was involved in building large and sustainable applications. 

One way we accomplish this is by using Web Components and design systems to maintain a single source of truth. If we need to make a change to a button, for instance, we make that change in one place and this populates everywhere that button is in use. This saves us time by preventing redundant work needed to implement a design change across an application. This also keeps our clients' brands and presentation cohesive.

Another way we build sustainable codebases is by leveraging various tools to maintain consistency in our code. This consistency helps prevent bugs and enforces stylistic choices decided on by the team. One of these tools we use are linters which are used to analyze the code in real time. This tool flags programmatic and stylistic issues before they have a chance to make it into the codebase.

We also use TypeScript, which adds several features to JavaScript that allow us to write better code. Arguably, the most important feature we get from TypeScript is strict typing. This instantly increases our efficiency by preventing common low level bugs. TypeScript also makes refactoring code much easier to do and allows new team members to orientate themselves inside the codebase much more quickly.

By leveraging these tools, I’ve been able to become a more efficient and effective developer.

A Collective Effort

Much like the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child,” it is through the collective efforts of many that we are able to build great products for our clients. From sales to data analysis, project management to product management, design to development. I’ve been blown away watching how all these disciplines come together to produce the best applications possible. 

Every team I have been a part of has been a well-oiled machine. Pulling together the strengths of the individuals to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. If I had to choose the best part of working at Phase2, it would definitely be the people here. I’ve been fortunate to learn from some of the most talented individuals I’ve ever worked with.

Continued Growth

Looking back to the start of this journey it’s amazing to think how far I’ve come, but I know I’ve got a lot of room to continue growing as a developer and individual. Thankfully, Phase2 has created space for this continued growth. 

From the various guilds to the subject matter experts that work here, there is always someone eager to share knowledge or help solve a problem. It’s this same passion and excitement for the work we do that drew me in years ago. 

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