It’s a commonly accepted fact that in order to succeed in something, you have to surround yourself with people and ideas that push you in the right direction. To that effect, I want to make it clear that, when you become a 4PSA Clouder, nothing can stop you from becoming the next rock star in software.

The Early Years

When I started writing code for a living, everything seemed freakishly complex. Why? Because there was no one around to guide me through the rough terrain of learning different APIs at once, to point out the mistakes in my design, and offer advice on how to code better and faster.

 
In their early years, programmers tend to put a label on everything they learn, regardless if it’s wrong or right. In an optimistic scenario, you realize you’re not on the right path and what you already know gets recycled into a different idea, but at the cost of getting you to jump through mental hoops. This was before my internship at 4PSA. 🙂

Ex Machina

The first thing that hit me was the absence of that chunky computer case. It was 2011 and my desktop had been virtualized in the company’s private Cloud. In seconds, the thin client booted up, connected, and I was ready to go.

Once inside the machine, I got another heads-up: I had to connect to another virtualized computer in a terminal window. That’s how I discovered development wasn’t local. As my colleagues put it, you have to develop software on a similar environment to that onto which you deploy.

The coolest thing was that all of the above happened in about 20 minutes. During my four-month internship, I learned concepts and skills that included integrating with different Cloud based APIs, designing better software and test-first principles. At the time, I was not aware of something that was of even greater importance – meeting the right people and getting to know their ideas on how to make software better.

In The Business Of Building

One of the things I’ve learned as a programmer is that there is more than one approach to writing software. In my early attempts, there was little planning on my side, as I expected everything to come from a third-party, willing to pay me simply for “coding it in”.

That being said, joining the Clouders has made me stop thinking of myself as a developer. Most people here are software engineers. Our jobs require a design phase, which is mostly our own responsibility. You may think that this makes my tasks a lot harder, but trust me, building something using your own design is an incredibly rewarding experience.

Join The Future

At present, I’m a member of the Pineapple team and together we are responsible for our company’s latest product that has the potential to change the way people view communication in the coming decade.

Every team is looking for talented people to join ranks and share the love of software. What team would you like to be part of? If you haven’t figured it out just yet, stay close! We’ll be introducing them in our future posts and you will be able to get a bigger picture.