James Gibbs

"It surrounds us and penetrates us; it binds the galaxy together.” - Obi-Wan Kenobi, describing TCP

I've been lucky to have some amazingly talented people to learn from in my career and now get to be the one teaching. I have shipped major projects across web front ends, backend services, and cloud infrastructure, and I am always on the lookout for the next stack to learn.

The best part of a project is the beginning: all the choices, the possibilities. Vetting different options, testing different prototypes, and exploring what is out there.

The other best part of a project is the middle: you are iterating and learning how wrong you were during the beginning. Your team is probably growing, so you have to learn your chosen tools well enough to teach them. You are able to really see the shape of what your end product will be.

The end of a project is also the best: you have mastered your tools. Your team is a well oiled machine. Milestones fall beneath your mighty power, and deadlines tremble as you approach them. You find a stack overflow question you asked a year ago and realize just how far you have come. You are proud of what your team has accomplished.