The week
In week six we worked on randomly allocated groups for the first time. We had to create a web app that mimicked AirBnB. Users can create listings, and those listings should be displayed so that other users can send a booking request. After the request is sent to the owner of the property, they are able to accept or decline the booking.
We decided to get adventurous and jump into Node, as it would allow us to use JavaScript for both the front-end and the back-end of our app. We used Express, a JS web application framework, to build the skeleton of the app, and Sequelize for the interaction with our database. We also used Jasmine for testing.
What I learnt
The key lesson I got from this week was the importance of collaboration and communication within the team. Sharing everyone’s thoughts and concerns can be very useful in order to have a good work environment. Organising regular meetings to catch up with colleagues and share successes and struggles makes the work a lot more pleasant. It’s very important to understand that everybody is different, with their own way of thinking and working processes that need to be respected. These are very important values that need to be encouraged in every team, and are the tenets of extreme programming.
I really focused on improving my teamwork skills and my learning process. Getting familiar with a new technology was tricky, and I spent the evenings studying and understanding how everything works together in order to build a web app. As I was learning and practising I decided to document the journey in a collection of posts (Build your Node app with Express and Sequelize and Continue building your Node app with Express and Sequelize) that will help me refresh things in the future, and maybe also help others.
Struggles
The first two days of the week were the most challenging. We started Monday very excited about learning Node, but I found it difficult to understand how to connect with the database, retrieve information, and display it in the browser, just using one language! Also, figuring out how to test all this was tricky.
But we finished the week working as a team, sharing our ideas and trying different approaches in a more flexible way. In the end I felt very happy about the great learning experience, and about having understood a new technology in so little time.
I can’t wait for the next week to start! We are halfway through the course, and we are seniors already! 😂