Here at The Collab Lab, we've wrapped up another cohort. We couldn't be more proud of the amazing work this team has put in over the last eight weeks!

First, let's take a second to appreciate the amazing work they did. Check out the live application that this team wrote from scratch!

💥 Our Participants

🐧 Nabil Kazerouni
🤩 DeVon Thompson
✨ Megan McKissack
🏆 Tanzima Chowdhury

👩‍🏫 Our Mentors

🏅 Alejandro Nanez
🙌 Stacie Taylor
🤓 Michael Sholty (me!)

🤩 Highlights!

Over the last eight weeks we collaborated together remotely to build an application, simulating a professional software company work environment setting. At the beginning of the week, these four would split off into two groups and pair program one of two features. At the end of the week, the pairs would present their features back to the rest of the team, talk about the ups-and-downs of the week, and plan out the following week's work.

It's always amazing to watch team chemistry unfold as the weeks go on, and this team was no different. Our participants worked together like they've known each other their whole lives, which is a testament to how they are all strong communicators. This is critical to succeeding in a remote environment, and they excelled way beyond expectations.

It was impressive how quickly our team members picked up the tech stack and ran with it. Some of the technologies were familiar to them, like JavaScript and React. However, they had to also learn new technologies like Firebase to be able to get the job done 👏 👏 👏

My favorite part about our this cohort was how proactive they were to owning this work. Personally I didn't have to do much to see this team succeed - they all knew how to default to action. All four team members communicated proactively early in the week to work around each other's availability, scheduled times to work and made it happen! When they ran into issues, they knew how to ask the right questions to get unblocked. These are all key qualities that I look for in teammates professionally.

🎬 Wrapping Up

It was really an honor to get to know these folx and bond during a tumultuous time in all of our lives with COVID running amok. Here at Collab Lab, we're incredibly proud of the work our team put in, and would recommend any of our four participants for tech/programming roles in a professional setting. I know they're already talking to potential companies, so if you're looking for early-career engineers you better act fast!