It’s hard work being seniors at Makers.
I remembered once describing Maker’s experience as if I am an addict hooked on code, and the coaches are the dealers who have the power to unlock or withhold the source of knowledge that gives me so much pleasure yet tremendous pain at the same time.
Too little leaves you wanting for more, too much you can possibly overdose on code/ frustration that leads to self immolation deep down in a rabbit hole. It’s tricky keeping a fine balance and I gotta say that Maker is as close to getting it perfect for the first part of the course.
I have long being warned by my mentor that being a senior is a lot different from a junior when you have all the love and attention from the coaches and you feel like you are learning loads everyday with a very structured weekly challenge while pairing consistently. The good old days of being a junior.
Makerthon
Not until we finished Angular week and progressed onto Makerthon – when it was the first time we were split into teams of 3-5 people to work on our own ideas, did I get the gist of how it felt like developing software in the real world.
For two and a half days, we had to research, plan, execute and present a MVP (minimal viable product), either a web or mobile application to fulfill whatever we set out to achieve with an initial idea.
SO SAFE
After two rounds of pitching ideas, filtering and final vote, I was honoured to be part of So Safe team to develop an app that can send request and receive confirmation to loved ones at times of crisis – especially when zombies or Godzilla could be threatening mankind’s survival.
We were ignited by a rush a adrenaline mixed with a sense of uncertainty. The possibilities were limitless, yet there was no structured path or solutions telling you what to do.
It was definitely time to step out of the sandbox.
MVP Planning
Kicking off the project, we unanimously agreed to prioritize one single key feature as our MVP over having too many features / biting off more than we could chew.
The ultimate goal of the app is to enable user to send a request ‘Are you ok’ to friends, by clicking on a giant red button. Friends would receive a request to confirm their safety, by clicking on a green button ‘I am ok’, which will then send a response back to the user.
Addition features that would have been nice to have included multi-users, a log-in page with user name & friend’s name, and a final confirmation page that is shown when all friends have confirmed ‘I am ok’.
Technology
After identifying our user stories, key decisions were made to develop a mobile ios app considering that people would most likely use a mobile app on the go in case of ’emergencies’. Thank goodness for mobile technology – I seriously don’t know what people used to do back in the days during emergencies, send a pigeon / fax?
The technology stack:
- Ionic framework
- Javascript
- Angular (interactive frond end)
- Firebase ( backend realtime database)
- Karma (Angular testing)
- Phantom (Angular testing)
- Protractor (feature testing)
Screen Shots
Here are some screen shots of So Safe app, it looks simple but definitely to the point:
It was daunting having to research and pick up two brand new technologies that we have never used before, ionic framework and firebase, while figuring out how different components would fit in together. I don’t know how many times I have to describe feeling out of my depth to then realize how little I knew what that meant exactly. The threshold of depth is infinitely unknown.
Thanks to implementing an iterative process from the get go and organizing our git workflow with waffle and a rotational pairing schedule, we managed to pull off our MVP plus most of the additional features!
We couldn’t be more pleased with what we managed to do in 2 and a half day, seriously.
Not to mention I was completely blown away by the creativity and quality of work that each team had produced at the project presentation.
Feeling proud and humbled at the same time, I am ever so grateful to be working along side my fellow makers who never cease to amaze and inspire me since day 1 at Makers.
Gratitude
Everyday when I look out of the windows, I am reminded of how lucky I am.
Mongolian Princess Codes 