National Careers Week: Development
As National Careers Week draws to a close, we caught up with two of our developers, Adam and Mat. So if you're looking for a way into development, hopefully you'll gain some valuable advice from the two.
Adam, Technical Project Manager
What does your job entail?
My days range from experimenting with cool tech like 3D photogrammetry and VR, to speccing up systems that will be used by thousands, to maintaining our server and hosting setups! I keep up to date with the latest changes and upcoming technologies to make sure we always have the edge.
Adam, Technical Project Manager
What does your job entail?
My days range from experimenting with cool tech like 3D photogrammetry and VR, to speccing up systems that will be used by thousands, to maintaining our server and hosting setups! I keep up to date with the latest changes and upcoming technologies to make sure we always have the edge.
How did you get into web development?
I got into web development as a hobby in my teens when using Dreamweaver at school. Me and my friends were more interested in messing around creating silly Flash animations if I'm honest though! Web development for work happened later when I was working in IT and used php to do creative things like make dashboards for VOIP systems and brought internal tools up to date from black-and-white terminal programs.
I got into web development as a hobby in my teens when using Dreamweaver at school. Me and my friends were more interested in messing around creating silly Flash animations if I'm honest though! Web development for work happened later when I was working in IT and used php to do creative things like make dashboards for VOIP systems and brought internal tools up to date from black-and-white terminal programs.
Using code to automate the processes that took up valuable time really opened the door to the larger world of web development for me.
What do you love/enjoy about development?
Almost anything is possible with coding and development, and finding new ways to use technology drives me to keep experimenting and pushing what we do forward. I spend a lot of my own time working on projects just to see what's possible.
What do you loathe/dislike about development?
The days of dealing with Internet Explorer incompatibilities are almost over, but it seems like just a few years ago I was fighting with rounded corners in Nano, or uploading edited files over FTP. Today we have a hundred solutions to build a javascript file which can get old pretty quickly and I sometimes consider giving this all up to whittle spoons!
If you could give one piece of advice for an aspiring developer what would it be?
The experience I gained from learning and experimenting with coding in my own time has been instrumental to my career so far. You don't need great GCSEs or to go to university to get into development when you have experience behind you.
Mat, App Development Manager
What does your job entail?
It's quite diverse, from managing the app development team to building apps for a range of industries. As the saying goes, no two days are the same and that's usually as I'm pushing forward with another app or in a meeting for an app development.
How did you get into app development?
It was either this or be a shepherd (no joke). The first few years of my career were spent hopping around (I did eventually start using both legs, but that's another story) a few different companies; developing games, tools and writing music, voice-overs and sound effects for games (cool right?). I encountered my first mobile game development task in early 2001, writing a game editor for the coolest phone around at the time; the Nokia 8110... the Matrix phone!
What do you love/enjoy about app development?
Everything. The experiences I have had from this career are exceptional, second to none in fact. Though I must admit, stand out moment was creating an app for the new Google Glass device and going to their offices - totally out of this world.
What do you loathe/dislike about app development?
The process of getting an app onto an app store. There I said it.
If you could give one piece of advice for an aspiring app developer what would it be?
Oh, I have to give advice? Ha. Research, have fun and maybe take on board what Adam said. Your experience is often far greater than a qualification, though I have one!
If you're considering a move into development why not talk to us? We can chat about internships and how you can get your foot in the door - hello@clickds.co.uk
Mat, App Development Manager
What does your job entail?
It's quite diverse, from managing the app development team to building apps for a range of industries. As the saying goes, no two days are the same and that's usually as I'm pushing forward with another app or in a meeting for an app development.
How did you get into app development?
It was either this or be a shepherd (no joke). The first few years of my career were spent hopping around (I did eventually start using both legs, but that's another story) a few different companies; developing games, tools and writing music, voice-overs and sound effects for games (cool right?). I encountered my first mobile game development task in early 2001, writing a game editor for the coolest phone around at the time; the Nokia 8110... the Matrix phone!
What do you love/enjoy about app development?
Everything. The experiences I have had from this career are exceptional, second to none in fact. Though I must admit, stand out moment was creating an app for the new Google Glass device and going to their offices - totally out of this world.
What do you loathe/dislike about app development?
The process of getting an app onto an app store. There I said it.
If you could give one piece of advice for an aspiring app developer what would it be?
Oh, I have to give advice? Ha. Research, have fun and maybe take on board what Adam said. Your experience is often far greater than a qualification, though I have one!
If you're considering a move into development why not talk to us? We can chat about internships and how you can get your foot in the door - hello@clickds.co.uk
