Why?

This was for an in-house product at the agency I worked for. It was also one of the earliest projects I worked on at the company. It was a learning experience for both me & the company.

Relevant contributions

• Frontend development
• The view theming library
• QA development
• Minor backend development

Major tools

Frontend:

• React
• Javascript
• es6-react-admin-lte
• SASS

Backend:

• PHP
• Yii2 → Laravel
• Docker

Testing:

• Jest
• PhantomJS → Casper.js → Puppeteer → nothing

Process

• Planning phase
  • Earlier on, the developers acted as their own project manager (PM) until the company had official PMs assigned.
  • We would have group discussions with our boss (client) about which features were important & make tickets.
• Working out tickets
  • We set up Docker containers for local environments.
  • I would work on the frontend feature & bug tickets.
  • Created automated user acceptance testing for every ticket.

Hurdles

• This project went through multiple automated user acceptance testing frameworks.
  • PhantomJS, Casper.js, Puppeteer, & then nothing at all.
  • The changes were all related to testing support and deprecation issues.
  • Removing testing was part of an internal decision while switching company stacks.
  • No clear-cut resolution. 🤷

What did I learn?

• Building with Docker containers.
• A whole bunch of testing frameworks & practices.
• A little PHP.
• Making logo animations is the bestiest thing in the world-a-ronie!

What would I improve if I did it again?

• Start off the automated user acceptance testing with Cypress, which didn't exist at the time.
• Be less dependent on internal libraries that have separate Jira boards & tickets.