OVERVIEW:

The Collab Lab is a non profit organization that helps early career developers and, in particular, people in under-represented groups in tech, gain experience they need to break into tech. To achieve that, over the course of 8 weeks a team of 4 junior developers work collaboratively on a software project, under the guidance of volunteer mentors. The goal is for them to gain hands-on experience by working in a professional setting with code reviews, pair programming sessions, weekly meetings and retro sessions.

The project is a “smart” shopping list that learns your behaviour over time and prioritizes the things that you are going to need and reminds you to buy them. The developers had to work both on the functionality of the application and the appearance of it.

Key technologies and tools: JS, React, HTML, CSS, Git, Github, Tailwind, Firebase

THE TEAM:

THE DEVELOPERS:

Adegunloye Iyimide
Klesta Luli
Racheal David
Victor Owiti

THE MENTORS:
Chiamaka Umeh
Reda Baha
Aristos Manolarakis

WHAT WE DID FOR THE PERIOD OF THE COHORT:

Over the period of eight weeks, every Sunday, the team met for a period of one hour to demo the week's features, do retrospectives, go over learning modules (like pair programming learning module, git learning module and accessibility learning module) and also assign tasks for the upcoming week. The developers(collabies) were paired in two to work on issues together each week. The pairs would meet during the week to pair program remotely and come up with solutions to their features after which they would make a PR on GitHub. At the end of the week, the pairs reviewed each other PRs, followed by final reviews by mentors and the features are merged into the main branch. The mentors occasionally checked in and held office hours to help the collabies unblock. At the end of the eight weeks, we had a fully functional smart shopping list that learns as you go! You can view the app here. Here's the final demo meeting, definitely worth a watch to see what this talented group of devs came up with.

Some of our developers were just starting out with React while others had built a project or two before collab lab. They were all super enthusiastic, collaborative and communicative. They helped each other unblock and were eager to learn. We the mentors definitely saw a lot of improvement over time, especially in the use of git, making PRs, merge conflict resolution and communication. This is what the developers had to say 👇👇.

WHAT THE DEVELOPERS HAD TO SAY:

Klesta: Being a self-taught developer, I applied for The Collab Lab because I wanted to learn how to work on a software development team. I learned how to work in an Agile environment by working consistently in weekly sprints. It was especially a great learning opportunity working with mentors who also brought their experience from their jobs in development.
We also got to do pair programming with other team members and mentors and at the end of every sprint, we had to demo the code and the application in production. These experiences were incredibly beneficial for me. I got to learn how to talk through my code, answer questions and demo the app as a developer putting myself in the shoes of a user. I felt much more comfortable going through live coding technical interviews because I was already familiar with talking through my code. I learned so much from team members and the mentors.

Iyimide: My experience at Collab lab was amazing. I gained robust experience in code review, agile methodology, pair programming and collaboration.
The mentorship was superb; I was part of a team where the mentors were always willing to support and help resolve any issues that surfaced. My teammates were outstanding; I learnt something new during every pair programming session.
The career-lab extension of the Collab lab is the icing on the cake. After all the experience garnered during the program, we were further prepped for job search, negotiation, LinkedIn profile optimization, and interviews. I'm glad I was a part of the program.

Michelle: My Collab Lab experience was really awesome. The mentors were always ready to help and jump on a call whenever we get stuck or needed help.
I got to learn how to collaborate with a team remotely. It was my first time working on a team project. Also, I learnt how to use the git commands, Create pull Request, Code reviews, Pair programming, and working on issues etc. The office hours and weekly sync meetings were great too. It gave me greater understanding of some topics that were presented, team communication, and presentation skills. Now, I'm confident that I'll do well working remotely

CONCLUSION:

To wrap things up, everyone enjoyed and learned a lot during this period. The developers put in a lot of effort, dedication and commitment to this project would be huge assets to your team!!! If you are hiring a junior developer, you can reach out to any of these hardworking and job-ready developers 😊.

If you are an early-career developer, the application for the next cohort is ongoing and this is a huge opportunity. Apply!!!