SEP Blog

We’re curious people by nature. And we love to teach others what we’ve learned. So explore our blog to gain fresh insights from our expertise in areas ranging from culture to AI.

SEP Wins TechPoint’s 2024 Innovation Service Partner of the Year Mira Award

SEP Recognized as Indiana’s Top Innovation Service Partner, Winning TechPoint’s Prestigious Mira Award Westfield, Indiana – SEP has been named the Innovation Service Partner of the Year by TechPoint at the 25th annual Mira Awards. The Mira Awards, Indiana’s largest…
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I love SEP Hexter

The Story of SEP’s Hexter the Owl: A Beloved Mascot in the Making

Meet Hexter! This is Hexter, SEP’s mascot who was first introduced in 2021. He made his debut with the grand opening of our headquarters in Westfield, Indiana. Why an owl? Clients frequently describe us as wise, focused, intuitive, methodical, and having unique perspectives. We take decisive and swift action—all while having the ability to see […]
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SEP mascot Hexter the owl wearing a birthday hat

Happy 1st Birthday, Hexter!

One Year It’s officially been one year since the SEP owl mascot was introduced. At the time, our little feathery friend didn’t even have a name! Since the introduction on day 1 of moving into SEP’s Forever Home, Hexter was named and has been used in over 40 DIFFERENT WAYS. That’s pretty incredible. For a […]
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Testing React Native Apps Post Featured Image - Tools

Testing React Native Apps: A Sweet Setup for Full-Stack Cross-Platform Testing

Short on time? The answer is to use Jest, React Native Testing Library, and Detox. Here’s a sample repo with it all wired up: https://github.com/klcantrell/testing-react-native-apps-post. The advantages of building an app with React Native apply when testing the app as well. When building, you write code once and get native apps that work well on […]
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security lock symbol over person typing on laptop

5 Tips to Strengthen Your Computer Security and Online Presence in 2023

According to the Identity Theft Resource Center 2021 Data Breach Report, there were 1,862 data breaches in 2021. While 2020 saw a total of 1,108 data breaches. AKA computer security is no joke! But where do you even start? SEP’s Junior Sys Admin team compiled their top tips for Computer Security Day. See our top five […]
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Manage the lifecycle of QObjects in C++ using smart pointers with custom deleters that invoke deleteLater.

deleteLater: Managing the QObject Lifecycle in C++

This post describes how to manage the lifecycle of QObjects in C++ by using smart pointers with custom deleters which invoke deleteLater. Qt has it’s own lifecycle for QWidgets/Objects that is distinct from the usual C++ object lifecycle. Most of the time that is essentially a non-issue. Normally, QWidgets last for the lifetime of the […]
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phone app displaying in dark mode on desk

Welcome to the Dark Side: 5 Tips for Designing a Dark Mode Version of Your App

Are you thinking of coming to the dark side? 🦇🖤 Designing in dark mode continues to grow in popularity, especially following the implementation of optional dark mode for Apple iOS, Facebook, Google Chrome, Youtube and other highly trafficked sites and operating systems (source). But what is dark mode? If you aren’t familiar with it, dark mode […]
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software developers smiling and working

How to Be Successful at SEP

The following document is based on advice shared with all new employees (SEPeers) on their first day at the company. Here at SEP, we all come from different backgrounds; some of us have years of experience at other companies, and others have come straight from school. We are not just engineers, but also testers, designers, […]
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A herd of elephants, as generated by Stable Diffusion

A Gentle Introduction to Mastodon and the Fediverse

Have you heard of Mastodon? No, not the band. The social network that’s been growing by leaps and bounds lately! If you’ve heard the name, but aren’t sure what its deal is, then this post is for you. The Big Idea Mastodon is a federated social network. What does that mean? Put simply, it’s a […]
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Friday’s 13 Tips to Overcome Design Workshop Facilitation Nerves

Facilitating design workshops can oftentimes feel as scary as Friday the 13th. The nerves that build up moments before meeting with a client can feel the same as the nerves I would get as a kid while watching the classic 80’s slasher film as Jason skulked around Camp Crystal Lake. In both scenarios, I was/am […]
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