In the hectic world of technology, integrating security into every stage of the development process has become more than a best practice, it is a necessity. Therefore, DevSecOps, the fusion of development, security, and operations, is reshaping the IT recruiting landscape and creating a surge in demand for professionals with DevSecOps skills.
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Understanding the DevSecOps paradigm
DevSecOpsrepresents a cultural shift in the approach to software development. Thus, it emphasizes collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility for security throughout the entire development lifecycle. This departure from traditional methodologies makes security an integral and proactive part of the process, rather than a reactive afterthought.
Certainly, in an era rife with cyber threats and breaches, organizations are increasingly adopting a security-oriented mindset. DevSecOps offers a proactive approach to identifying and mitigating security risks early in development, minimizing the impact of potential vulnerabilities, and improving overall cybersecurity.
Impact on development pipelines
DevSecOps transforms the traditional software development lifecycle by incorporating security practices at every stage. From planning to coding to testing and deployment, this approach streamlines processes, improves efficiency, and ensures that security is not a bottleneck but an integral part of the development pipeline.
To thrive in the DevSecOps era, professionals need a specific skill set. These include experience in automation, knowledge of security best practices, and the ability to collaborate seamlessly with development and operations teams. Organizations are looking for people who can bridge the gap between traditionally isolated departments, promoting a holistic approach to security.
Recruiting in the DevSecOps era
As organizations move toward DevSecOps, IT recruiting strategies must evolve accordingly. Recruiters and hiring managers now look for candidates with a comprehensive understanding of DevSecOps practices. The ability to assess how candidates integrate security into their mindset and workflows becomes a crucial aspect of the hiring process.
Certifications and continuous learning
For professionals who wish to thrive in the DevSecOps industry, certifications play a critical role. Certifications validate skills and demonstrate a commitment to staying current on industry best practices. From the Certified DevSecOps Professional (CDP) to the AWS Certified DevOps Engineer, these certifications can enhance a candidate’s marketability and make them more attractive to employers.
In conclusion, the rise of DevSecOps is not merely a technological evolution but a cultural one. The demand for DevSecOps skills is indicative of a shift towards a more secure, collaborative, and efficient development environment. As the IT recruitment landscape adapts to this change, organizations and professionals alike must invest in continuous learning, collaboration, and a security-first mindset to thrive in the era of DevSecOps.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices.
DevSecOps is a collaborative approach to software development that integrates security practices into every phase of the development lifecycle. It emphasizes a cultural shift, breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams to create a more secure and efficient software delivery process.
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What does DevSecOps stand for?
DevSecOps stands for Development, Security, and Operations. And it signifies the convergence of these three domains to ensure that security is not an isolated concern but an integral part of the entire development and deployment process.
Why is DevSecOps important in software development ?
DevSecOps is crucial because it addresses security challenges early in the development process, reducing vulnerabilities and enhancing the overall security posture of software. Moreover, it promotes a proactive approach, fostering collaboration and communication between traditionally segregated teams.
The benefits of DevSecOps include improved security, faster delivery of software, enhanced collaboration, early detection of vulnerabilities, and a more streamlined and automated development pipeline. Also, it ultimately leads to increased efficiency, reduced risk, and a culture of continuous improvement. More in details:
1. Enhanced Security Posture
Firstly, DevSecOps fundamentally strengthens the security posture of software by integrating security measures at every stage of the development lifecycle. This proactive approach minimizes vulnerabilities, reducing the risk of security breaches and data compromises. It ensures that security is not an afterthought but an integral part of the software’s DNA.
Beyond security, DevSecOps expedites the delivery of software. By automating processes, minimizing manual interventions, and streamlining workflows, development teams can release software faster without compromising on quality. This agility is essential in meeting the demands of a rapidly evolving market.
3. Fostered Collaboration
Then, DevSecOps promotes a collaborative environment by breaking down traditional silos between development, security, and operations teams. Communication flows seamlessly, and teams work together towards common goals. This collaborative spirit not only enhances the quality of the software but also contributes to a positive and innovative organizational culture.
4. Early Detection of Vulnerabilities
One of the standout benefits is the early identification and remediation of vulnerabilities. Through automated testing and continuous monitoring, DevSecOps allows teams to catch and address security issues in their infancy. This prevents security flaws from escalating and reaching production environments, saving both time and resources.
5. Streamlined and Automated Development Pipeline
Also, DevSecOps relies heavily on automation, resulting in a more efficient and streamlined development pipeline. Automated testing, deployment, and monitoring significantly reduce manual efforts and potential errors. This not only accelerates the development process but also ensures a consistent and reliable deployment pipeline.
6. Increased Efficiency and Resource Optimization
Moreover, efficiency is a cornerstone of DevSecOps. By automating repetitive tasks and minimizing bottlenecks, organizations can optimize resource utilization. This efficiency extends beyond the development team to the entire organization, allowing for a more agile response to market demands and a better allocation of human resources.
7. Risk Reduction
Through its security-first approach, DevSecOps actively mitigates risks associated with software development. By addressing security concerns early and continuously monitoring for potential threats, the likelihood of security incidents and their subsequent impacts is significantly reduced. This risk reduction is a critical factor in maintaining the trust of users and stakeholders.
8. Cultural Shift Towards Continuous Improvement
Last but not least, DevSecOps instills a culture of continuous improvement within organizations. Therefore, teams are encouraged to learn from each iteration, share insights, and implement feedback promptly. This cultural shift fosters a mindset of adaptability, innovation, and a commitment to refining processes for ongoing success.
Dive into our latest infographic for an illuminating visual journey through the key statistics and benefits of adopting DevSecOps practices. Image
How does DevSecOps work?
DevSecOps works by integrating security practices seamlessly into the development pipeline. This involves automation of security checks, continuous monitoring, and collaboration between development, security, and operations teams. The goal is to identify and address security issues early, ensuring that security is not a hindrance but an enabler of innovation.
What does a DevSecOps Consultant do?
A DevSecOps Consultant is responsible for guiding organizations in adopting DevSecOps practices. This includes assessing current processes, recommending improvements, implementing security measures, and educating teams on best practices. Also, consultants play a pivotal role in creating a security-conscious culture and ensuring the successful implementation of DevSecOps. Read the entire job description of the DevSecOps Engineer.
What is the DevSecOps culture in software development ?
The DevSecOps culture revolves around collaboration, communication, and shared responsibility for security. Thus, it encourages a proactive mindset, where security is integrated into the daily workflows of all team members. Continuous learning, adaptability, and a commitment to improving security practices are key aspects of the DevSecOps culture.
Best practices of DevSecOps include integrating security early in the development process, automating security checks, fostering collaboration between teams, implementing continuous monitoring, and prioritizing a proactive approach to security. Regular training and knowledge sharing also contribute to a successful DevSecOps implementation.
Following we listed our 10 best DevSecOps best practices:
1. Security as Code
Going beyond merely integrating security, DevSecOps embraces the concept of “Security as Code.” This involves treating security policies, configurations, and controls as integral parts of the codebase. By codifying security measures, teams ensure consistency and traceability throughout the development lifecycle.
2. Shift-Left Approach
The best practices of DevSecOps advocate for a “Shift-Left” approach, meaning that security is introduced as early as possible in the development process. By addressing security considerations from the project’s inception, teams can identify and rectify potential vulnerabilities at a stage when corrections are less resource-intensive.
3. Automation of Security Checks
Also, automation is a cornerstone of DevSecOps best practices. Security checks, including code analysis, vulnerability scanning, and compliance assessments, are automated throughout the development pipeline. This not only accelerates the feedback loop but also ensures that security measures are consistently applied without reliance on manual interventions.
4. Collaboration Across Teams
The essence of DevSecOps lies in breaking down silos between development, security, and operations teams. The consequently best practices emphasize fostering collaboration and communication across these traditionally segregated domains. Also, cross-functional teams collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that security considerations are understood and implemented cohesively.
5. Continuous Monitoring and Feedback
Moreover, DevSecOps emphasizes continuous monitoring of applications and infrastructure in real-time. This involves implementing monitoring tools that detect security incidents, track compliance, and provide feedback to development teams promptly. Also, continuous monitoring ensures a proactive stance against emerging threats.
6. Proactive Threat Modeling
Best practices encourage proactive threat modeling during the design phase. Teams systematically identify and assess potential security threats and vulnerabilities before a single line of code is written. Consequently, this proactive approach allows for the implementation of preventive measures, reducing the likelihood of security issues in the final product.
7. Container Security
With the rise of containerization, DevSecOps best practices extend to securing containerized applications. This involves implementing container security measures, such as scanning container images for vulnerabilities, ensuring secure container orchestration, and applying access controls within containerized environments.
8. Incident Response Readiness
Then, DevSecOps best practices emphasize the importance of being prepared for security incidents. Thus creating and regularly testing incident response plans, ensuring that teams are equipped to respond swiftly and effectively to security breaches. Also, preparedness is key to minimizing the impact of security incidents.
9. Regular Training and Knowledge Sharing
Beyond technology, the human element is critical in DevSecOps. Therefore, regular training sessions and knowledge-sharing initiatives are best practices to keep teams updated on the latest security trends, tools, and techniques. And this continuous learning culture ensures that teams remain well-equipped to address evolving security challenges.
10. Compliance as Code
Compliance requirements are integrated into the development process through the concept of “Compliance as Code.” This approach ensures that regulatory and compliance measures are embedded within the codebase, reducing the burden of compliance checks during later stages of development.
What are the components of DevSecOps?
The components of DevSecOps include people, processes, and technology. Thus, it involves a cultural shift, changes in development and deployment processes, and the implementation of security technologies and practices throughout the software development lifecycle.
What are common DevSecOps tools for software development?
Common DevSecOps tools include version control systems (e.g., Git), continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) tools (e.g., Jenkins), containerization tools (e.g., Docker), security scanning tools (e.g., SonarQube, OWASP ZAP), and monitoring tools (e.g., Prometheus).
What is DevSecOps in agile development?
In agile development, DevSecOps aligns seamlessly with the principles of iterative and collaborative development. So it ensures that security is not a bottleneck in the agile workflow, allowing for the continuous delivery of secure and high-quality software.
What are the challenges of implementing DevSecOps?
Challenges of implementing DevSecOps include cultural resistance to change, the need for skills development, integration complexities with existing processes, and the potential for increased upfront costs. In order to overcome these challenges it is important a commitment to cultural transformation, continuous learning, and strategic planning.
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In this article we will discuss 5 very useful DevOps good practices to implement in Continuous Development.
DevOps is a software development methodology that integrates development and system administration teams. This methodology allows developers to focus solely on development and to deploy their code in seconds, as many times as necessary.
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DevOps: the new frontier of software development
Since the early days of client-server applications, development teams and operational and system teams have been incompatible.
This represented a major organizational problem. The people writing the code had no connections with those responsible for its implementation and maintenance. More than that, developers and system administrators had different goals and even conflicting departmental guidelines. They also often did not share a common location. The result was a complex if not inexistent communication.
On the other hand, those responsible for systems maintenance and administration also have their vision. Programmers not following security policies in development/test/production environments, borrowed credentials among team members, and deployment schedules not adhered to. And the results are easy to guess. Delayed deliveries, depleted quality, and the inexcusable consequence: unhappy customers.
In 2008, with Agile methodologies in full swing, a Belgian, Patrick Debois, had the idea of applying Agile to the operational environment of IT. And he did it by integrating development and IT in the same context. That’s how DevOps was born.
In fact, DevOps unifies both departments under one Agile umbrella. In doing so, both share goals, values, and premises.
At this point, it is clear how DevOps is a new way of looking at software development.
Let us now see 5 DevOps good practices to implement Continuous Development. This being based on the standard application development life cycle.
1 Continuous integration (CI)
Continuous Integration (CI) stands as one of the fundamental pillars of DevOps. It fosters collaboration, efficiency, and code quality throughout the development process. At its essence, CI is a practice that revolves around the frequent and automated integration of code changes into a shared repository. The significance of CI lies in its ability to catch integration issues early on. This ensures that code from multiple developers meshes seamlessly, all while promoting a culture of continuous improvement.
By using configuration management (CM) tools alongside specific test and development tools, you can know exactly which parts of the code you are creating are ready to go into production with the minimum number of bugs.
To this end, a fluid exchange of information between the test and development teams is vital. This helps to identify and resolve code issues in an agile manner.
Once we have a bug-free code, continuous delivery allows us to automate the introduction of changes in the code to upload it to the pre-production environment.
Continuous delivery is one of the key DevOps good practices. It accelerates the release cycle, and fosters collaboration among development and operations teams. Moreover, it enhances the overall reliability and stability of your software. By automating the introduction of changes, you reduce the risk of human errors and ensure that the latest features and improvements reach your users faster, enhancing their experience.
As with continuous delivery, continuous deployment allows us to automate the release of new code to the production environment, minimizing the risks involved.
This allows to publish code changes several times a day without problems thanks to container technologies, such as Docker and Kubernetes, which make it possible to isolate environments while maintaining code consistency between different staging platforms.
Now, we still need to talk about two practices that, although being the least implemented, are still important: continuous monitoring and infrastructure as code.
4 Continuous monitoring
Continuous monitoring encompasses not only your code but also the infrastructure that sustains it. This ongoing surveillance, often likened to a loop, plays a pivotal role in maintaining the health and performance of your software.
This allows the code to be monitored at all times, even in production, including the infrastructure that maintains it. By means of a loop, errors are detected and notified immediately, allowing the damaged code to return to the development phase and start the CI/CD cycle again.
5 Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure-as-Code is a very useful practice that cuts across the DevOps phases. It allows automating the infrastructure needs to enable the correct operation of the software. Using machine-readable definition files, instead of physical hardware configuration, it is possible to dynamically scale published software infrastructure requirements. A typical case is the dynamic creation of a new storage volume using Docker or Kubernetes. Which you can remove as soon as you don’t longer need it.
This not only provides an agility in hardware scalability never seen before, it also allows IT teams to monitor the configurations of active environments, record changes and simplify the rollback of configurations by adjusting costs to the real needs of the moment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that DevOps is here to stay, and it is a productive collaboration, and good intentions between developers and system administrators to achieve a common good. The delivery of error-free software in the shortest possible time.
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Robotics engineers work on all kinds of robots, with all kinds of functionalities and vocations. They are usually involved in specific stages of designing or optimizing a robot.
Therefore, their missions range from research to creation to maintenance of the robots they have designed. In mechanics, mathematics, computer science, and many other fields, robotics covers a wide range of areas of expertise!
The following is a description of the main tasks of the robotics engineer’s job.
Defining the feasibility of a design and its constraints
When the robotics engineer works on the design of a robot, they begin by noting specific requirements and tasks. They then develops technical proposals and defines the design methods to use. To this end, they produce what they call a data-sheet or specification.
Creating an initial prototype and analyzing the results
This prototype allows them to participate in the development and implementation of tests and validation trials. Then, once the tests and trials are done, they analyze the results and determine where to improve the product or process.
Ensuring follow-up
The robotic engineer must ensure follow-up throughout the process, and once the robot is designed, he or she often provides technical assistance and may work on optimization projects.
Required skills of the Robotics Engineer
What are the required skills to work as Robotics Engineer?
Versatility and good general technical knowledge
A robotics engineer must have a high level of technical competence and in particular good scientific knowledge: mathematics, computer science, mechanical and electrical engineering, etc., and of course familiarity with the various computer and programming tools specific to robotics.
Rigor
This is a job that requires a lot of rigor, as the slightest mistake can often have serious repercussions. This rigor also reflects in their knowledge, which they must update regularly while keeping up with technological developments.
Analytical skills and creativity
The Robotic Engineer must have good analytical skills and be creative. These are, in fact, soft skills that will enable them to find the appropriate solution when a problem arises.
As the robotics industry is growing rapidly, with revenues of more than $100 billion, robotics engineers can work in a research center (public or private), in small companies specializing in robotics, in SMEs, or in innovative start-ups. Therefore, there are many outlets in a wide variety of industries: automotive, medical, aeronautics, etc.
Salary
The average daily rate of a Robotics Engineer depends a lot on the level of experience and expertise, but is generally between 500 and 1000 €.
Education and training
To conclude this job description of the Robotics Engineer, let’s talk about the educational background.
To become a Robotics Engineer, the ideal is to have an engineering degree with a specialization in automation, robotics, mechatronics, and electronics. It is also possible to enter this profession with a master’s degree or a specialized doctorate.
As for the evolution, it can evolve towards project management or team management.
As the term itself suggests, Web Development is about building (developing) the application from scratch for the web. It is therefore about websites, web pages or anything else that runs on the Internet.
So, delving a little deeper into IT & Tech terminology, web development refers to the development of programming source code, the creation and organization of databases and markup languages, network protocols, web servers and computer security.
To start with, we will take a look at how to create a website and when it is necessary and recommended to contact a web developer. Furthermore, we will talk about the different specializations of web development.
Table of Contents
1. How to create a website
Today, creating a website is not as difficult as it used to be. It is not necessary to have a technical or computer background. To create a dynamic website, it is sufficient to be able to install a CMS (Content Management System) software such as WordPress or Joomla on a hosting space and that’s it.
Consequently, anyone can put a simple website online themselves and manage it easily with a publication control panel.
Although CMS software is a perfect solution for creating a blog or a small web magazine, CMSs are not suitable for the development of more complex websites.
If the website is the front-end interface of other corporate information systems, it still requires design (web engineering) and programming (web development) skills.
According to the company’s needs, computer language professionals work on all the website’s functionalities. They then propose tailor-made solutions to fulfil their mission in the company.
A website is a set of hypertext documents and multimedia elements (images, videos, etc.) organized in web pages. In other words, the webmaster uploads the document files onto the web space of a server computer (host) connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.
Today, web developers are increasingly in demand. Indeed, the rapid developments in the IT sector and the digital transformation that all companies must manage have led to a strong demand for new programs, websites and applications. No company can do without a web presence, so it will need an IT professional who can structure and manage it in an appropriate and up-to-date form.
When users (client) connect to the host’s address via their browser, the server sends them the requested hypertext document. In this way, users can navigate between documents on remote computers, even on the other side of the world.
Although people use them as synonyms, internet and web are not the same thing. The Internet was born about twenty years before the web. The Internet (network of networks) is the technological infrastructure, while the web (World Wide Web, better known as WWW) is a protocol.
2.1 From web 1.0 to web 2.0
Over the last twenty years, web development has evolved from the first generation to the second ( web 2.0 ). Web 2.0 is the era of social media, social networks and CMSs.
2.2 What is web 3.0?
In the coming years it will further evolve to the third generation ( web 3.0 ) with the spread of intelligent websites with artificial intelligence. It is a technological revolution that has already begun. Just think of chatbots, online virtual assistants and the recent improvements in the use of the Internet.
Another evolving trend is RPA (Robotic Process Automation) that promotes productivity gains through the automation of business processes.
Also explore the role of RPA Consultant, highly sought-after profile in today’s business world, particularly in digital services companies.
2.3 Responsive and mobile websites
Web development is no longer just about the PC platform, but multiplatform, because users access the web with different devices, including mobile (e.g. tablets, smartphones, consoles). Therefore, it is necessary to develop a responsive website that automatically adapts the layout to the device used by the user.
As mobile technology is growing exponentially, so are IT professions related to app development. The role of the Android Developer is to develop applications for all devices that run on this mobile operating system.
In addition, let’s delve a little deeper into the web development field and see how different IT specialized professionals work to develop a website for the internet.
There are two classifications for the Web Development:
Frontend Development
Backend Development
Frontend Development refers to the part of a website that the user interacts directly. For this reason developers call it the ‘client side’ of the application.
Backend Development is the server side of a website (the part of the website that users cannot see and interact). The portion of software that does not come in direct contact with the users and where developers store and arrange data.
The front end developer is the IT professional figure who is responsible for creating the graphical interface of a website or web portal, inserting the elements in the page, styling them (colours / fonts) and animating them.
Furthermore, in the modern web, the front end developer is also responsible for:
interacting with the back-end (to which it sends and from which it receives information to be displayed within the web page);
developing the logic of what happens in the interface.
What follow is a roadmap with a brief description of the languages and tools involved in the development of the front end.
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is used to design the front end of web pages using markup language. It acts as a skeleton for a website, as it is used to make the structure of a website.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) affectionately called CSS, is a language designed simply to simplify the process of making web pages presentable. It is used to style our website.
JavaScript is a scripting language used to provide dynamic behaviour to our website.
Bootstrap is a collection of free and open-source tools for creating responsive websites and web applications. It is the most popular CSS framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites. Nowadays, websites are perfect for all browsers (IE, Firefox and Chrome) and all screen sizes (Desktops, Tablets, Phablets and Phones).
With the appearance of new frameworks, the professions around web development are more and more specific and a large number of professionals specialize in a particular technology. Among the different possible specializations is the front-end developer AngularJS.
On the other hand, the back end developer deals with the structure of a website or web application. Back-end developers take also care of the functioning of the site and the management of the data they need to process.
Therefore it is important is to know the basic functioning of most languages and to choose one according to its particularities. Rather than talking about languages, let’s talk about the tools that developers use to implement the functionalities of a site.
As before, here is a roadmap of the back-end development tools.
PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for web development.
Java is one of the most popular and widely used programming language. It is highly scalable.
Python is a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more efficiently.
Node.js is an open source and cross-platform runtime environment for executing JavaScript code outside a browser.
Back End Frameworks are: Express, Django, Rails, Laravel, Spring, etc
C is a general-purpose language from the70s, and it is still in use in systems programming and robotics. C++ was born in the 1980s. It is the language of choice for those looking for performance, as it can execute complex code very fast. It is usedfor the design of mobile applications, the programming of operating systems or video games. Moreover, in the creation of certain military programs.
Back-end languages (PHP, Python, Java, C#, .Net etc.);
Databases, where developers store the data they need to manage. The types of database is versatile and adapt to the needs of the system;
Server, it is important for a backend developer to be able to take care of the online appearance of the site and its maintenance.
There are many specialties and languages in the field of web development, including Swift,Node.js, React.js or Ruby. Ruby is a free object-oriented and multi-paradigm programming language that is easy to understand and pleasant to use.
What characterizes the full stack developer is the ability to develop both the front end and the back end of a website. Therefore, the knowledge of the full stack developer includes everything that characterizes the two types of developers we have seen above.
An IT professional capable of dealing with the structure of web pages, their styling, animations, creating data structures, designing databases and implementing site functionality. Full Stack developers are familiar with all languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, etc.
Despite this vast knowledge, it is very difficult for such professionals to develop a website completely on their own. In fact, their task is mainly to collaborate with front and back end developers and support them in the realization of particular functionalities.
5. Programming languages for creating a website
As we have seen in the different specializations of web development, a programming language is a computer language used by programmers to communicate with computers. It is therefore a set of instructions written in a specific language to perform a specific task.
In conclusion, this is a list of the most widely programming languages used by the industries :
HTML language
PHP language
ASP language
Javascript language
Java language
Python language
CSS style sheets
C language
C++ language
C# language
R language
Go language
Ruby language
Swift
The IT professional that translate a graphic language into a computer language is the HTML integrator. By assembling the different elements of a website, the HTML integrator makes sure that they are aligned with the desired aesthetic and maintain a practical design.
Some languages are gaining importance with the evolution of the semantic web, including: Open Graph Markup. Very useful to explain the content’s context of a page and gain control of the snippets.
6. Web Development and Cybersecurity Best Practices
IT professionals involved in Web Development need to have a good understanding of the importance of digital hygiene and web safety. In order to avoid common website security attacks, it is crucial to follow the highest cybersecurity standards across the development cycle.
Some cybersecurity good practices to put in place are as follows:
Ensure that the development team has attended cybersecurity training.
Set up a web application firewall (WAF).
Use parameterized statements in SQL tests.
Keep all security platforms and applications up to date.
Making cybersecurity a priority throughout every development cycle is therefore necessary to to battle the flood of digital attacks that threaten the modern web.
Peter Fisher, host of the popular How To Code Well podcast, discusses why he started teaching coding and some of the best career advice he has given.
Peter Fisher; freelance web developer and host of the popular “How To Code Well” podcast; discusses why he started teaching coding and some of the best career advice he has given.
I never actually wanted to be a programmer. I actually started off from an arts background. So I did a lot of graphics design and a lot of 3D animation. We did a lot of flash animation and action script coding, so the coding came alongside the multimedia stuff.
When I was at school, I was building small little websites for myself and friends just to post images on. And I found it interesting that one could build something with really small feedback loops. All you had to do was write some HTML code and refresh the page and you had something.
And then when I got my first job in a web development agency, I discovered very quickly that I wasn’t actually a graphics designer as more of a coder. So, I was able to transfer my passion for design to a passion for designing and architecture.
You are the host and teacher of How To Code Well. A podcast and learning hub around web development and pursuing a web developer career. How did this adventure start?
I never started How To Cope Well with the intention of building a business from it or being a creator. It was a purely accidental thing that I got into. I always started blogging when I started learning because that was my way of keeping note. But I was writing to myself rather than to others.
After I finished university, I was in this ocean of developers who’ve just come out of university, and they were all looking for the same jobs. I was speaking to a lot of recruitment agents, and one of them, off the cuff, said “I wish there was a way I could show our clients how well you can code.” This was like 2006-2007, so YouTube was just coming out. And I thought: “You know, that’s something people is starting to use more, so I will video myself doing some code.” It was a very selfish decision. It was never intended to teach anyone how to code, it was just to show how I coded, so I could have called it How Well I Code rather than How To Code Well.
But then you decided to focus on helping others. What changed?
At first, I did about four videos and posted the links up onto my CV, but I very much doubted that anybody would actually see those videos from a job perspective. So, I forgot about it for a few years and didn’t bother logging back into YouTube.
Then one of my family members wanted to post or share a video for other family members. And I just thought “Oh yeah, I’ve got this YouTube account.” So, I logged in and, after several years of it being dormant, I noticed that there was a ton of comments and questions and feedback which were all very positive. I thought this was something I could run with, and it went from the very selfish decision of promoting myself to helping people out. People on YouTube were asking if I knew how to do other things, how to use other programming languages, where the next part of the course was. The funny thing is that I never thought it was a course when I did it. The driving force of How To Code Well is its community.
What was the most challenging part of starting to produce educational content on a regular basis?
I was a junior dev working a full-time job with freelance work on the side, and I was now teaching people to code, so time was and is a thing that is against me.
I’ve got a very strict rule of not doing it during working hours, so it’s evenings and weekends, and over several years I’ve managed to keep that going. But there’s a lot of sacrifices one has to make. For instance, if I live code on YouTube on Tuesdays after work, my working day is prolonged, and my downtime is shorter. If I live code on Twitch on Sundays, my Sunday afternoons are out of the water. And there’s a lot of preparation that you have to do before you do that. You need to think about what it is that you’re going to code and talk about.
What about impostor syndrome. Do you experience it yourself? How do you address it?
Impostor syndrome is something that is definitely real, and with the podcast that came through accident as well. I started doing long-form content where I was touching upon subjects that I didn’t know much about. It got to a point where I was getting to the limits of my knowledge, and I just decided to bring people on the show to learn from them. It’s always a learning journey, always knowing where my limitations are.
With every course I build, I think that I’ve done the wrong thing, if I’ve said the wrong technical thing. You know, if I’ve pronounced an acronym wrong. You’re constantly doubting yourself. It does get easier because you get used to that feeling and you can have a little word with yourself and say “It’s fine. It’s okay, you can publish it.”
You’ll never truly know how the audience is going to react until you publish it. So, every doubt that you’ve got in your mind is just your doubts. It’s not the doubts of others. I think that’s how I get through it.
Speaking to people on the podcast who know about the subject matter, I do come away feeling like I know nothing. I know what they’ve said because I’ve understood what they said, but it just makes me aware of how little I know of web development, which is another reason why web development is so good, because there is so much to know and so much to learn, it’s endless. You’ll never learn everything.
In your experience, what makes a good web developer versus a great one?
From a technical standpoint, a good web developer knows the syntax and the processes. But a great developer understands the technical consequences of those processes and decisions, and they can lean upon past experiences.
Also, a great developer is highly professional. They know when to say no and they have justifications of why they’re going to say no. They have testing, they know how long things are going to take, they have some experience behind what they’re doing. They’ve seen it from inception to deployment, and they’ve gone through the whole bug fixing cycle. But really, I think what boils it down is experience. You can’t just learn to be a great developer, you must embrace it and experience it.
Based on what you have seen through your courses, what are most developers struggling with these days?
Not understanding core programming concepts is something that I see a lot, so knowing the framework but not understanding the core principles of the programming language behind that. Learning the concepts of programming is a transferable skill. I’m not just talking about learning JavaScript or learning PHP or Python. It’s learning the operators, the logical flows, learning what a function is versus what a class is. All of those things you can take with you to the next programming language.
What I see a lot is people diving into frameworks and then getting stuck when they move to another position or another job, or when that framework changes. They are comfortable in that world, but they’re not comfortable in the world outside of that framework.
What’s the best web developer career advice you have given?
First of all
Take breaks. Take more breaks than you think you need to. Your brain works offline, so even if you’re not physically at your machine, you’re thinking about the work. I think about the work when I wake up and when I go to bed. I never switch off in terms of thinking about the bugs that I need to fix or the logical flows, but because I’m not staring at a screen, I’m not getting stressed about it. I’m processing this information in my brain in the background. And, when you come back to the code, it’s easier to identify the issue that you are in.
The second one
The second one is to keep asking questions. Web development is super hard and it’s going to get harder. You think you know it now, but, in two years’ time, you’ll know two years’ worth of it, and then you’ll discover another two years that you don’t know. There’s more stuff in web development that I don’t know than there is that I do know, and I’ve been in it for a long, long time. Don’t beat yourself up and if you don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve, then ask someone. And, if you don’t understand what that person is saying, ask someone else, because perhaps that person hasn’t talked about the answer in a way that you can absorb. Maybe you are more of a visual learner. Maybe they can show you on a whiteboard or take you through the process. Throwing acronyms at someone isn’t a very useful thing, is it?
Lastly
Lastly, technology comes and goes. At university, I studied visual basic and action script. Well, action script is for Flash. Flash is never used. And visual basic, I just wouldn’t even know. I did well in that course, but I’ve never used it. What I’m trying to say is that technology comes and goes, and whatever you learn now probably won’t be the thing that you will be learning in 10 years’ time or doing in 10 years’ time. So, what you need to do is accept that and embrace change, but don’t embrace change every five minutes.
And the only thing would add is to just enjoy it. Don’t get too stressed with it all. It’s a very challenging thing, and I find that, the more I get stressed, the more I dislike it. So, once you find that you’re actually getting stressed and frustrated with something, take a breather, take a couple of hours. The code will still be there tomorrow, so take an evening off.
How To Code Well is a video podcast which is live on YouTube every Thursday at 20:00 BST. The audio version is released every Friday and is a week behind the live show. You can find it on iTunes, Spotify and most other podcast platforms.
You can follow How To Code Well through its website, on YouTube (Live every Tuesday @ 17:30 BST and Thursday @ 20:00 BST for the podcast) and on Twitch (live every Sunday @ 14:30 BST).
How does one grow as a front-end developer? We chat with Vasilika Klimova, senior front-end developer at Avaloq and founder of the SkillUp School.
How does one grow as a front-end developer? We chat with Vasilika Klimova, senior front-end developer at Avaloq and founder of the SkillUp School in Luxembourg, about why soft skills and not over-engineering are key to advancing as a front-end devand in your web developer carer.
Why did you decide to go into web development? What’s your web developer career story?
Actually, web development wasn’t my first choice at all. I have been playing video games since I was three years old, and, at first, my idea was to become a game developer. I studied C and C++ at university. You can get into this industry through OpenGL and all this stuff but, in Tver, my city of origin in Russia, we didn’t have any jobs for students in this area. So, I found some web development vacancies and decided to try it, and by the fourth year of university I got my first job as a web developer as a Webmaster. So, I started from scratch.
After working there for several years, I finished my university degree and moved Moscow. Then I had to decide if I wanted to go for back-end or front-end, as before I was full-stack. I was doing server code, business logic, all requests to the servers and database stuff, but also user interface. I did all of it. In Moscow there are bigger companies, and these usually have different web development teams, teams for front-end and teams for back-end. So, at this point I needed to decide: do I go as a back-end PHP developer, or as a JavaScript front-end developer? And I went for front-end because I’m a visual person. I need to see what I’m doing, and, when you work with a server, you usually look at the terminal and you see just code and not a lot of interfaces.
And what came next? You now live in Luxembourg. Why the change? What are you up to these days?
I’m actually in Luxembourg because of my previous job. I was a Front-End Team Lead at Artec 3D, a company that has offices in Moscow, Luxembourg, China and California, doing user interfaces and 3D-related tasks. After five years, I decided to switch and was approached by Avaloq’s HR department. They do banking software; it’s quite common to work in the banking industry in Luxembourg.
Avaloq is a much bigger company, and banking quite a regulated industry. Did you notice any differences as a front-end dev?
So, I went from a 200-people company to a 2,500 thousand one with 30 offices around the world. And some processes are not as fast.
Before, when I needed to ask someone within the company for something, I just went directly to them and asked them. But Avaloq has around 800 people at its main office in Switzerland. If you need some information, there are a lot of different teams, and you really need to investigate. For example, sometimes you are working on a project, and you need to find the people who wrote the code in the first place. And often, the only way to know who did this code is to look at who committed it. Coders and managers change, and the only way to find the author of the code is through the commit.
And besides your job, you also work on some web projects, do consulting and give private lessons for adults and children. You are also the founder of SkillUp School, a school that teaches technical skills and how to advance your front-end web developer career. Tell us a bit more.
Yes. I started being a teacher and mentor for front-end development in 2015. I taught at schools in Russia, both online and offline. And after I had settled in Luxembourg and finally had some time in my hands, I decided to create SkillUp School, as I hadn’t seen that many schools like this in the country.
What we give to our students is this absolutely modern way of looking at front-end technologies, because as professional front-end developers, we are using them every day. We started in 2019. We don’t have too many students, and our main idea is to be very flexible for our students. People who want to change their career usually already have a job and not that much time to invest in their development. We only have two or three teams per year, so not big groups, and we are very flexible. It helps us take an individual approach to each student, and I often become even friends with them. After the course, I keep helping them grow and with any questions they have.
In your experience, what makes a good vs. a great web developer?
I think I started to think more about this when I became a team leader. Good developers can think from a technical standpoint, but a great developer, in addition to the technical aspect, knows how to take more of a business perspective. The main idea behind our job is to deliver something that makes our clients happy. You need to think about the business requirements, why you have these requirements, if there may be a more efficient way to create a feature that meets them and not overengineer. You need to ask yourself “Why?” several times.
I know some genius developers, but sometimes they end up over-engineering because they want to make something ideal, something perfect. But the business doesn’t need that. You need something now, for this and for that purpose. And you always need to keep timing in mind. If development takes more time, then you can run into problems. It’s more of the developer’s time, which results in more money. Don’t over-engineer. Relax and just keep it simple.
As a senior developer, how can more junior specialists grow as front-end developers?
To work on their soft skills, on how to learn, how to behave, work in teams, etc. If one day you’d like to become a team leader, it’s important to work on your team skills, on how to negotiate with web designers. Often developers have issues with designers because we materialise their design and they are not happy with what we created. You really need to have a grasp of some psychology basics for this.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like scuba diving. I already have more than 100 dives on my back and am a rescue diver, so I could rescue someone from the water, I hope. It’s so calming and beautiful under the surface. But I don’t have enough money to do it too many times a year. Usually maximum twice per year, unfortunately. Covid-19 has made it particularly hard too.
I also like playing board games and having a nice time with friends. I still play computer and video games sometimes. Not to compete, but it’s just something that helps me relax. I am partial to games with and interesting and breath-taking plot.
What makes a successful web dev? We interview Berlin-based front-end expert Stefan Judis, who works for Contentful leading developer relations.
What’s the secret to creating content for web devs? We continue our chat with Stefan Judis, developer relations lead at Contentful, blogger and front-end expert. Here is why and how he shares what he knows and learns with the community.
After building a career as a front-end developer, you’re now leading developer relationsfor Contentful. What does exactly the job involve?
Developer relations is still a fairly new field. What we see over the last decade is that a lot of technology companies. And especially the developers using these technologies have a lot of decision power. We at Contentful are one of these software providers, a headless CMS (Content Management System) that you can put anywhere. And our developer relations team doesn’t work directly on the product. We have completely separated engineering teams that are building the APIs and the product itself.
And the DevRel team is there to spread the word about Contentful but also going into the communities and helping developers with whatever they’re struggling with. And this can be Contentful related, but very often it’s also just web development related. So, what we’re doing is that we are blogging, we are building code examples, etc. And whenever we are talking to users or customers or friends; we are basically the bridge between the product and the developer communities out there.
When someone has a problem with something, our team are usually the first people that they go back to. And we’re then feeding all these things back into the process and building this trust within the developer community. So, yeah, we are blogging, speaking, writing, and hanging out on our community Slack. To connect with the people, have a little bit of fun and build cool stuff. That’s what I do for a living.
But you also enjoy creating content for web devs in your free time, right?
Yes. Since this year, so since 2021 and the pandemic and being stuck home, I’m writing a weekly newsletter. If people are interested in random web development stuff to read on a Monday morning over their coffee… It’s usually something around 10 resources, some GitHub repositories, some music, etc. And I’m writing that every Sunday. So if you’re up for some random good stuff I thought was good over the week, people can subscribe here.
So where do you draw the line between your personal blogging and the one you do as part of your developer relations job?
Well, when you work in DevRel, the line is very, very blurry. Where does work start and where does it end? So I usually do a lot of things on the side. Right. So I do a lot of blogging on my own blog and occasionally I do something for the Contentful blog. Lately, I am leading the DevRel team, which means that I’m not hands-on with the content that much anymore. But I’m still around and the line is very, very blurry.
When you work in these semipublic roles, it’s usually like “Oh yeah, Stefan is the Contentful guy”. And when someone writes me DM on Twitter on a Saturday because they’re struggling with something, well, I’m the last person to say “Yeah, no, it’s the weekend, not going to help you right now”. So it’s very hard to tell where it starts and ends. But I’m just really into web development and I like to share all the things that I learn and that are exciting. And that’s just what I do.
What advice do you have for other IT pros who want to create content and share tips to help out others? How did you start creating content for web devs?
It’s hard for me to give advice, but I can say what I do. I made it a habit of writing something down or creating a video or some sort of content around things that I discover. I’m also reading a lot. I’m subscribed to a gazillion newsletters. So when on a Sunday morning, I read something and have this thought “Huh, I didn’t know that”, I put it somewhere. It could be on my own website, or it could be on Twitter. But just making this habit of constantly documenting what you’re learning helps with this whole idea that you don’t know anything about web development, because this fear is just so big.
I have been doing this for three or four years. And what that comes down to is that I now have, I don’t know, 200, 300, 400 learnings on my own website. And these are primarily for me. So this is how it started. Because I wanted to come back a month later or six months later and look at it and say “Man. You got a lot smarter over the last six months”. But, after some time, more and more people discovered what I wrote. Because, if it’s useful for me, usually I’m not alone.
And that’s one piece of advice that I would give to people that want to start creating content or blogging. If it’s useful for you, you are usually not alone. And there is nothing like “Oh, beginner content is not useful” or “It has to be this 2,000-word, in-depth article with a lot of scientific, engineering knowledge”. That’s absolutely not the case. We have so many people joining the industry. And whenever you learn something or when someone learns something, I think it’s a very good habit to just write it down.
And then you have the greatest feeling in the world. When some people write me an email or send me a tweet tell me “Hey, Stefan, I just learned this thing. You learned that three months ago and now there’s two of us.” And that’s just beautiful because you can kind of connect the two things, helping people but also documenting your journey.
And you have even built some tools to help you and others in the learning journey, Tiny Helpers and Random MDN. Can you tell us a bit about them?
Tiny Helpers is a very simple website that I created around Christmas one and a half years ago. There are so many self-built or quick build tools that you usually cannot Google. For example, there are a lot of people that build tools for accessibility or tools for defining font sizes, but when you Google them, you will never, ever find them because they are not SEO optimised. There are not a lot of words in them. If you find them and don’t bookmark them, you will always lose them. So, I just built this little resource collection that is Tiny Helpers, and I put it online because that’s what I do.
I thought, “Well, if it’s useful for you, then it’s probably useful for someone else.” And the whole thing is open for contributions. I think I have had over 100 contributions. And there are quite a few people that just come in and say “Oh, that’s useful. I should add that to Tiny Helpers because that’s where I go to find little online tools.” And, when I’m looking for a very specific tool that I’ve seen online, I’m going there as well and it’s the same thing. If it’s useful for me, it’s usually useful for someone else.
The other project that you mentioned, Random MDN is a quick and easy Twitter bot that I built to support my learning journey. So MDN is the developer resource for Mozilla, and it is huge. There is so much knowledge in there and I just had this random thought: “Hey, it would be kind of cool if there was something that tweeted out random MDN pages. It tweets six times a day. It just grabs the sitemap from MDN, picks a random page and tweets it out. And I learn new things just because of it. Sometimes I see a tweet and I am like “Huh, I didn’t know that.” And very often this me to blogging about it, just because my own bot taught me something about web development.
What makes a successful web dev? We interview Berlin-based front-end expert Stefan Judis. Stefan works for the content management platform Contentful leading developer relations. Whether it is by tweeting, writing, or streaming, he loves sharing his web development expertise with the broader community. He also helps maintain Tiny helpers and Random MDN.
Let’s start from the beginning. How did you get started in technology?
I started working in a completely different field after school. I was working as a sound engineer, and I worked in German television. So, what I did for a couple of years was mixing stuff mainly for sports TV shows. But then I figured out that I didn’t want to do that my whole life, that that wasn’t going to fly going forward. So, I thought, well, you’ve been always good with computers.
Then I started studying here in Berlin, where I learned to program stuff. So, it all began with a little bit of C++ and Java and these kinds of things that you learn at university. Berlin is a very start-up-heavy city, so I landed an internship working with Magento and PHP – not real front-end stuff like we do these days; that was not really a thing yet back then. But yeah, I took my first internship and from then I just jump from company to company and learned that I love the web and love writing and creating content around web technologies.
What made
you fall in love with web development?
I’ve always liked the visual aspect of it. When I started, I was really into the Magento stack and I thought it was kind of cool, but I always liked the whole visual animation part of doing web development. And when I started, it was still the early days. Then, you know, slide up, slide down, fade in, fade out, all of these tiny functions. But II found these incredibly appealing. And then slowly but surely, front-end development became a real thing. Then more complexity got into that, and I was completely hooked by all this new technology that was coming out. Then I found out that building for the web is fun. And since then, I tried to build the best stuff possible.
What
was the hardest part of your transition into tech?
Well, especially in web development, learning is difficult. I have been doing web dev for 10 years, and when I started, I was incredibly impressed with what people were doing there. So, I remember I was sitting next to a colleague, and they opened their terminal, and they were doing some fancy stuff in this black window and I was like, “holy moly this is a completely different world.”
I think it was rather challenging to figure out what exactly I had to know. What should I know how to do? But also building a career around that. I think it’s also important to figure out what you actually like.
So, even though now I say that I specialise in front-end technologies, that took me quite a while. Then, I would say that it took me two or three years to figure it out and get a clearer picture of what is actually out there. And it’s only getting worse, especially in the front-end sphere, because there’s just so much technology out there. A lot of people keep asking me: “Hey Stefan, what should I learn?” And I’m like, “well, good luck figuring that one out.” So, I think that is definitely a challenge that we have at the individual level, but also at the industry level, because there’s just so much stuff happening these days.
Given
how many open fronts there are these days, what would you recommend to those who
don’t know what to focus on?
For people
who are just entering the industry: do whatever is fun and useful, really,
because there’s so much stuff to learn and it feels very, very overwhelming.
Build your website, get it off the ground and do whatever is fun and useful.
But what I usually recommend to people is: don’t forget to be curious about the
technology when doing so.
What we see
right now is that there are a lot of people just learning a framework when they
enter the industry. And, while that is great to get a product off the ground, I
think it’s very important to understand what is actually going on. I’m a big
fan of the pillars of the web, HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and I think it’s still
important to have a very good fundamental knowledge of these technologies. And
these are huge areas by themselves. You cannot be an expert in all three areas,
especially when you have frameworks on top and that and maybe something on top
of the frameworks. But I think curiosity and having this drive to say: “Ok, I’m
using that. But how does it actually work?” — I think that’s very important to
become a good web developer.
In your experience, what separates a good web dev from a great one? Is it soft skills, or is it more about hard skills? What make a successful web dev?
I think
there are two areas. Soft skills are usually a very underrated thing when we
speak about software developers. Being a team player in general, I think this
is definitely a crucial part of a solid career. Being humble, being helpful,
all the kinds of things that make you a good team player. That’s something, for
example, that probably should have been taught at university when I studied. Good
or great teams or developers really depend on soft skills. And I would love to
have the industry focus a little bit more around that.
And speaking from the technology side of things, I think a great web developer is someone who always puts the user first. What happens in web development right now is that we have a lot of technology fatigue. We’re using the latest and greatest just because it is the latest and greatest or just because everybody is doing it. So, what I see very often are overengineered sites and products where something simpler would have done the job.
There’s nothing wrong with building something with the latest and greatest when you’re playing around and you’re building your own blog. But when you’re building a commercial product, I think it’s very important to take a step back and think: “Hey, did that make the whole thing slower, or is it now more inaccessible or is it less robust just because we wanted to use the latest and greatest technology?” I think great developers keep the bigger picture in mind and think about the user to build the best possible product. Because at the end of the day, that’s what we’re paid for. We’re not paid for playing with tech. We are paid for building something great.
What would you say are the top three soft skills a successful web dev should have?
I would say
it’s the usual things, from being helpful to being humble. Putting yourself
into the shoes of your colleagues and customers, I think that is a very
underrated skill. Very often it always feels like everything is on fire and
everybody wants something. But very often, and I’m guilty of that myself, it’s
necessary to take a deep breath and think about where the other person is
coming from. I think this is very valuable when it comes to building a career
or working together in teams.
One piece
of advice that I received a few years ago and that I now keep close to my heart
is that when you’re working it can get quite stressful, always under pressure.
And very often, what happened to me is that I had this kind of “anti-” mode. I
was like, “everything is too much.” And I just ranted a lot to other people.
And I once ranted in a situation where the person was in front of me. They went
like: “Stefan, I feel you, I empathise with you, but what’s the solution?” And
I didn’t have one. I just wanted to rant.
Since then,
when I really had the feeling that something had to change or something was really
going on with my nerves. Try to think about the solution first and then propose
that to colleagues, your bosses, your mates or whoever is around you, because
very often ranting doesn’t solve the problem. And it’s very easy to rant
instead of changing something. And that’s something that I learned and that I
have kept with me for a couple of years now. And it’s definitely helpful.
Discover out Top 10 of Developers in Belgium to Follow on Twitter with Mission Control Center by Mindquest. All of them are worth your attention
Discover out Top 10 of Developers in Belgium to Follow on Twitter. If you are a developer from Belgium ; are looking to become one ; or are simply interested in the topic of web and app creation ; here’s a list with the local experts you should be following on Twitter.
In no particular order. Some are self-taught devs sharing their experiences and advice, others are public speakers and minority advocates. All of them are worth your attention.
Eva is an open source and JavaScript expert working as a developer for the video platform VIBBIO. She is an alumna of Rails Girls Summer of Code. A global fellowship program for women and non-binary coders whose aim is to make the open-source community more diverse. Eva also runs a blog, includeJS, where she writes about her journey as a self-taught dev.
Pieter is one of the most active members of the Belgian Visual Studio community, leading the country’s 1,200-member-strong user group. Pieter is also a co-founder of Techorama, a deep knowledge IT conference that attracts about 1,700 every year. A certified Visual Studio MVP and Scrum Master, he has a training and consultancy business (Sparkles) focusing on ALM solutions.
Louis is a front-end specialist who describes himself as more of a doctor/physiotherapist of everything front-end. He is one of the organisers of Creative Front-End Belgium, a space for local developers to meet and talk shop. And he’s always working to help the community with his expert insight. He posts regular content on his site mamboleoo and runs a newsletter about SVG.
Although technically from California, Brenda is a Belgium-based front-end developer working towards becoming a full-stack developer. Brenda provides web design services and shares regular tips and tricks to help out other developers. She is also a stay-at-home mom juggling entrepreneurship, learning and motherhood all at the same time. You can check her work and posts here.
Jachim is a PHP expert working as a developer for Combell. He is a Zend Certified Engineer and conference speaker. He is passionate about helping the developer community, serving as a coach for CodeDojo Belgium and enabling his local PHP user group. You can find out more about his work and views on his site.
Freek is a Belgian PHP superstar working as a developer and package creator at web-design agency Spatie. In addition to having built and running various well-established web solutions, Freek is an organiser of Full Stack Europe. Full Stack Europe is a yearly conference that caters to the entire development team across stacks. He blogs at Freek.dev.
Dries is a PHP developer working for the Laravel framework, where he maintains the community portal and builds components like the Blade UI Kit. Like Freek, Dries is an organiser of Full Stack Europe, as well as of, Full Stack Belgium. You can follow his work and adventures on his personal site.
Bart is a web developer at up-time-as-a service company Nucleus. As a quality assurance engineer, he focuses on developing fool-proof and extendable web applications on- and offline. In this regard, Bart works to help other web devs by maintaining the PHP Quality Assurance and organising the local PHP community. He also volunteers for the Red Cross and CodeDojo Belgium.
Pieter is a full-stack engineer living in Antwerp. Passionate about new technologies, he has extensive experience managing the complete project lifecycle from requirements gathering through to implementation. His blog posts have been echoed by publications such as Forbes. You can find more about his adventures here.
Kenneth is an independent software developer and technical lead at development and consultancy firm Agilix. He is an active member of the Belgian development community. Taking part as a public speaker and regularly posting content on his blog.
