Okay, here it comes…the big moment! Everything I’d crammed in my brain from the past several weeks was about to have its spotlight moment. My partner requested that I create a logo for his photography business. I mean, sure, I could sketch something with crayons or snag a snazzy premade logo from Canva, but why … Continue reading Decoding Diffusion: A Two-Week Spike Exploring AI Image Generation
An Introduction to Roku Test Automation: Smoothing the Way for Brightscript Development
Roku's digital media player has revolutionized the way we consume entertainment. As a developer, Roku's unique development landscape, which uses Brightscript—a proprietary, Roku-specific language—presents specific opportunities and challenges alike. Rooibos: Reinventing Roku-based Unit Testing The Rooibos testing framework is a vital unit testing tool designed specifically for Brightscript, the proprietary development language used by Roku. … Continue reading An Introduction to Roku Test Automation: Smoothing the Way for Brightscript Development
Epic showdown: Two teams built the same product with and without AI
Summary Engineers at WillowTree have been using AI tools like GitHub Copilot and Chat-GPT since they first arrived on the scene. As these tools become more advanced and prevalent, we wanted to explore how exactly they add value to our teams. To learn more about the effects of AI tools on engineering velocity and product … Continue reading Epic showdown: Two teams built the same product with and without AI
Refactoring Our Team’s Approach to Android Automated Testing
The Goal: Code Nirvana Imagine a world where you can release your app without lifting a finger to test it. Your code flows from your mind to your fingertips on the keyboard, then to your version control system, which triggers a set of tests, ensuring your vision is achieved without breaking any existing functionality. Some … Continue reading Refactoring Our Team’s Approach to Android Automated Testing
What even is Staff Engineering? Part 2 in A Series
Building Apps to Last In part 1 of this series, we discussed the broad role of a Staff Software Engineer. Today, we’re going to start looking at the specifics. What does a Staff engineer's "everyday" look like? What are their most powerful tools? The first of the more specific points I want to write about … Continue reading What even is Staff Engineering? Part 2 in A Series
Intercepting and Parallel Routes in Next.js App Router: Explained
Introduction Next.js is a popular React.js framework that provides powerful routing capabilities. With the release of Next.js 13.4, Next.js App Router has been officially marked as stable. The Next.js App Router is a new routing system that is built on React Server Components. The App Router provides features like nested routes and layouts, simplified data … Continue reading Intercepting and Parallel Routes in Next.js App Router: Explained
Seamless Processing of PDF Files with Python and Node.js Applications
One of the most difficult yet vital aspects of being a software engineer, or working in technology is the requirement for never-ending constant learning in order to be an expert in your field. Every day, a new article, framework/library documentation, or research paper is published, adding to the growing pile of unread knowledge. For me, … Continue reading Seamless Processing of PDF Files with Python and Node.js Applications
What is Our Culture, and What Do We Want it to be?
According to Nicole Forsgren, Jez Humble, and Gene Kim’s Accelerate, a generative culture and team experimentation predict software delivery and organizational performance. Generative culture relies less on hierarchy and power and focuses more on performance and trust. What do generative culture and team experimentation have in common? They both rely on a community of highly-skilled … Continue reading What is Our Culture, and What Do We Want it to be?
CI/CD is Every Engineer’s Job. Yes, Even Yours!
Picture this: the project that you’ve spent a long time working on, put in the hard hours for, and poured your soul into just releasing a new build. Sweet! But now a developer on the project pushed a brand new change and it’s your responsibility to determine if this change is good enough to be … Continue reading CI/CD is Every Engineer’s Job. Yes, Even Yours!
Rise of the Machines
Using GPT to accelerate Software Development Source The Nature of the Beast Ah, the rise of the machines! We're not talking about a Terminator-style takeover but rather the incredible potential of GPTs (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) in software development. Think of GPTs as autocomplete on steroids; it's all about finding the sweet spot in its vast … Continue reading Rise of the Machines