Recently, we helped a client build their first software product: an iOS app. When it came time to release the app into the App Store, our client asked an innocent question: “So…should our app be free or paid?” We were able to advise them on a direction that made sense for their project, but I […]
Building with Elm at SEP Makes
Preface For the last few months, I’d been working on my side project Contact, a JSON REST API written with Elixir and Phoenix, designed to be the backend to an instant messaging platform. I thought that SEP’s semi-annual hackathon: SEP: Makes, would be the perfect time to make a front end application for Contact, but […]
Integrate and Deploy React with Phoenix
You’ve just finished your lightning fast Phoenix JSON API, what’s next? Motivation My most recent side project, Contact, is a JSON REST API written with Elixir and Phoenix, designed to be the backend to an instant messaging application (e.g., Slack). There was a hackathon coming up at SEP, and I thought it’d be fun to make a frontend for […]
SEP and Indiana FIRST Robotics in 2018
SEP will be renewing its sponsorship of First Robotics in 2018 and the opportunities to volunteer short-term are coming up in March and April. First Robotics in Indiana, also called “Indiana FIRST” is such a great program. In late December, we met with the organization to get an update on their 2018 efforts. My favorite […]
Designers + Developers: Why We’re Better Together
I want to start by sharing that I was inspired by the infographic below from InVision to write this. This may appear at first to be a silly and hunky-dory post about family-like co-worker relationships in the office. While I agree I am writing with this sentiment, I want to show how enriching and successful […]
CommunityHERO: A Lesson in Collaborative Design
Here at SEP, the PXT (product experience team) has been making a push for more collaborative design on the projects we’ve been involved in. By collaborative design I mean including not only designers, but engineers, product owners, and project managers in the design process. We’ve had success with it on several of our past projects, […]
Bringing #NoEstimates into an FDA world
The last few years I have been part of a team that is building diabetes management apps for both iOS and Android. Our client partner is a global leader in the diabetes care market. We want our partner to be successful…necessarily we have to understand the constraints that they are working with in order to […]
Rotating Title Headers for Tables
One of my co-workers (Jason Giles) and I were recently pairing on the implementation of a table for a client that would allow dynamic addition and removal of rows. The table would have section headings of rotated titles display across the side of the table. I will walk through the code that we wrote to […]
Mistakes Were Made: iOS App in Xamarin
This post is an artifact from my recent participation in an experiment in “learning as a project” (I made that up). I went through the process of adding TouchID to an app in a platform I have never used before (Xamarin). I’ve constructed a list of all the mistakes that I made as I wandered […]