MR36 | Backend functionality and design consistencies

MR38 | Thank You popup

MR39 | Visual Design Update and Hot-Reloading

MR40 | Max checkout weight set to 30 pounds

These are my merge requests for my finished tasks of connecting the backend to CheckOutGuestFrontend for actual checkout functionality and design consistencies, adding a “thank you” popup after someone checks out, updating the visual design of the frontend to be consistent with the others as well as adding hot reloading upon changes, and setting the max checkout weight to 30 pounds.

For Sprint 3, what worked well for me as an individual was working on a different part of the project, with different challenges and issues than my in the first two Sprints. These new obstacles were exciting for me, and I felt like I was able to learn a lot whilst staying engaged in my work and getting issues resolved. I felt really motivated to complete these issues because of the change of environment.

As a team, I really enjoyed working with all of my teammates and spending time with them in class. Everyone was quite welcoming and trusting of each other, which led to an amicable and fun work environment. Working together with a group of people you can be yourself with is a great experience, and can make it really easy to ask others for help or to admit your mistakes. Our team vibes being high encouraged better communication, and more interest in our work. Being honest with each other worked really well for us.

On an individual level, what didn’t work well, similar to last time, was that I could have been more productive in-class than I was. I got distracted sometimes, and possibly could have been distracting others, but I still got work done. Other than that, I think I did alright.

On a team level, we didn’t have many mishaps or things that didn’t work well. We were able to communicate our issues, what we’re working on, what we need help with, and our merge requests very clearly, and we were quite organized when it came to putting together presentations and updating our issue board. We almost always had everyone present in-class, which helped our productivity substantially.

To improve as a team, we could have done better with ensuring that everyone is on track/working on something, since we never really did the 5-minute standups at the start of each class like we said. Another good idea could have been to involve people in different aspects of the work, rather than everyone sticking to the same place for each Sprint. Giving each member a chance to explore another area of the work would help everyone become well-rounded in their knowledge of the project and in general.

To improve as an individual, I should try to focus a bit more during class, and arrive a bit earlier. I had issues towards the end of the semester with arriving a little later than usual, which hurt my productivity, and I could have missed some important things.

For this Sprint, not many of the Apprenticeship Patterns apply to me, so I’ve decided to go with “ Concrete Skills”. This describes a situation where one wants to work on a good development team, but they don’t have the practical experience. The solution provided is to upgrade your concrete skills and fundamentals, so that you can be immediately useful to the team, thus gaining trust and repertoire faster. This seems very applicable to new grads and people trying to get internships, as they lack the experience to get the job, but feel as if the job could propel their learning forward.

I selected this pattern because as I search for full-time jobs for post-graduation, I find it harder and harder to find companies willing to hire completely new-grads without any professional experience. My time in this class, and this Sprint, have been a solid emulation of a professional working environment, but I know there are many more factors that are involved in an actual company’s development team. I just feel like if I could get that first job and have a good experience, I would learn a substantial amount and feel much more confident about my place in the industry.

If I had read the pattern before/during the Sprint, it would have helped put me on a more focused path towards maintaining the fundamentals of programming, which would allow for professional teams to have more trust in me as a newcomer.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Josh's Coding Journey by joshuafife and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/documentation/-/merge_requests/14

This is my merge request for my finished task of writing documentation on how to implement and use nodemon for faster, more efficient development.

For Sprint 2, what worked well for me as an individual was being able to use the other pieces of documentation as a reference, and also being able to utilize Markdown’s formatting to give the documentation a clear and understandable look. I had also kept track of my process of installing nodemon with a Google Doc file, which made it immensely easier to retrace my steps and know what worked and what didn’t. Although it was my first time writing documentation, I didn’t feel lost at any points, and I was able to create a set of instructions I felt confident in and proud of.

As a team, we stayed very organized throughout the entire Sprint, keeping track of issues and merge requests as they were posted. Most merge requests were either discussed in-class or over Discord, which helped the other team members understand the changes being made. I feel like we really gelled well as a team, and morale was high, which enabled everyone to feel comfortable with bringing up issues or asking for help. Everyone has been great at completing their fair share of work, both when it comes to the project itself and the Sprint Review presentations. 

On an individual level, what didn’t work well was I felt as if I became distracted at times during class, when I could have been more focused on completing my work. This is something I am actively working on being better at. I could be a bit more productive in-class sometimes, but this is not to say I never get anything done. I also felt as if I wasn’t completely sure about how the documentation should be written, or if the instructions I wrote would be applicable to everyone. This is something I think is okay at this point, but it was a bit of a back-and-forth struggle when it came to making certain decisions.

On a team level, there was not much that did not work well. We’ve improved our communication from last Sprint, and we are getting issues done and merge requests out at a steady pace. I think something we might need to clear ourselves up on are certain issues regarding visuals, but otherwise I think we are in a good spot.

To improve as a team, we should ask either Professor Wurst, the client, or the Visual Identity Team some clarifying questions about our issues (what the visuals of the webpages are supposed to look like, for example). I think we could clean up our Issue Board a bit as well, as it seems a little cluttered with old Issues.

To improve as an individual, I should definitely try and focus a bit more during class. Productivity would increase, and hopefully I could get more done with the time we have left. I could do better in arriving to class on time, as the last couple of classes I was running late and had to search for parking for a long time. 

For this Sprint, not many of the Apprenticeship Patterns apply to me, so I’ve decided to go with “ Rubbing Elbows”. This describes a situation where one feels there are better techniques to the craft that are escaping them. This may not be exactly true, but it seems to be based on the apprentice’s experience and emotions about what they’re working on. It stems from stagnated learning, which can lead to one feeling inferior about their implementation.

I selected this pattern because while I was writing the documentation for implementing nodemon, I felt as if I was overcomplicating the whole process and that there was an easier way to accomplish the same goal. I felt that, realistically, installing nodemon shouldn’t have been too difficult, and that I was using an inferior way to implement it. It relates to my experience during this Sprint because I was feeling inadequate about my work being the “right” approach to implement nodemon.

If I had read the pattern before/during the Sprint, I would have asked another team member to work with me on installing nodemon to see if it was truly as convoluted as I was making it. The other developer might come up with a different solution, which would be a good perspective to have.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Josh's Coding Journey by joshuafife and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

https://gitlab.com/LibreFoodPantry/client-solutions/theas-pantry/inventorysystem-weight-based/inventorybackend/-/merge_requests/60

This is my merge request for my finished task of implementing nodemon into InventoryBackend in order for developers to utilize hot-reloading and for the correct port to be added for the database.

For Sprint 1, what worked well for me as an individual was my experience with nodemon itself, and being able to incorporate that experience to get a head start on the issue. Although it took me longer than expected to complete the implementation, having some background knowledge allowed me to be more confident in the changes I was making. The familiarity of the subject gave me some peace-of-mind.  

As a team, what worked well for us was our communication skills and being supportive and helpful of each other during class time. We kept ourselves organized with our issues and our Issue Board, which allowed for a clearer understanding of the tasks at hand. Our in-class environment as a team was very open and transparent with our problems and what we’re working on. Our communication from within Discord improved over the course of the Sprint, and we were able to keep each other up to date whenever we ran into a problem, made a merge request, or needed a question answered. 

On an individual level, what didn’t work well was my silence at the beginning of the Sprint. I struggled with incorporating and fixing nodemon, but I wasn’t asking for help early enough. Once I did ask for help, I was able to make great progress thanks to the assistance of my teammates and Professor Wurst. As one of my teammates had noted, if I had asked for help sooner, I might have been able to finish my issue faster. 

On a team level, we did lack in communication here and there, such as a lack of response on Discord, or others not being included or involved as much as they could have been. The Issue Board was too vague from the beginning, which made it hard to choose our issues and perhaps led us to bite off more than we could chew.

To improve as a team, we should be narrowing down our Issues and specify them more clearly, so that our Issue Board and plan for the next Sprint is more refined and achievable. I think we should also start to do stand-ups at the beginning of each meeting to inform the team of what we’ve been working on and the status of our progress. Also, although this applies to mostly me, I think asking for help whenever we’re stuck would be a great improvement. 

To improve as an individual, I, as previously mentioned, should speak up when I am struggling to try and get assistance from my teammates. It’s always good to have alternate perspectives and fresh viewpoints, so someone else may see a problem or solution that I wasn’t seeing. I could do a better job at keeping up with my teammates’ work, as I sometimes don’t confidently, fully know what they’re currently working on. 

Although there are a few Apprenticeship Patterns that would apply to me, I’ve chosen to discuss “Retreat into Competence”. This pattern describes a situation where you are beginning to realize how much you don’t understand about the work you’re doing, what you’re expected to do, or even the work going on around you. It eventually becomes too overwhelming, and to fix it, you revisit your “comfort zone”; you involve yourself in your area of expertise to gain confidence back and to take a quick break. 

I selected this pattern because I often feel weighed-down by an overwhelming sense of ignorance from all of the languages, frameworks, and other factors of programming that I do not understand. It makes me lose confidence in my ability to code, as it emphasizes my weaknesses. In terms of this Sprint, although I chose an issue that I had a little bit of experience with, the roadblocks I hit made me realize how much I didn’t fully understand about nodemon and especially docker-compose files, connecting to databases, images, and the like. Finding my ignorance in these areas reduced my confidence in my ability to program and get this issue solved. 

If I had read the pattern before or during the Sprint, I would have stepped back, worked on something utilizing my strengths, and gained my confidence back. It’s good to remind yourself of what you’re capable of.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Josh's Coding Journey by joshuafife and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.