Yannick van Bladel
Developers Case: develop the developer
Customers
Temp & flex
Processes
Feb 23, 2022
Hi developer! Are you thinking about working at Freshheads? Yihaa! Of course, we are excited. But anyway, who are we. To really put you in the shoes of a developer at Freshheads, we like to let them speak for themselves. In a client case, Misha, Yannick, and Mark tell you about an awesome project from the past year: Wiertz Direct. Read all about what it's like to work shoulder to shoulder with both client and colleagues. About the search for added value for the end user, and that sometimes you have to take a different path than what the client initially asked for. And about how you rapidly develop into an even better developer than you already were.
Whether we wanted to help the online platform of Wiertz Company - one of the big players in the South Dutch temporary employment sector - to further grow? You don't have to ask us twice. With a complete rebuild of the existing app, backend, and frontend, we ensured optimal connection to the end users of the platform that is Wiertz Direct: the employers and job seekers. With the potential to take over 50% of Wiertz's total business (annual turnover: €60 million) in a year and a half. Developers Mark, Yannick, and Misha share what made this case so awesome for them.
User centered mindset
When Wiertz reached out to Freshheads, the entire package for going live was already ready: an app, including backend and portal. Great, nothing more to do. At least, that's what you might think. But no way José - that's not the Freshheads approach. To make something successful, the foundation must be solid. And for us, solid means not only technically sound, but also fitting and usable for the end users. Frontend developer Yannick: “You can lock yourself away for weeks and build something beautiful, but what's the point if no one uses it? I find satisfaction in creating something that truly adds value for the person who will use it. And that's the top priority for everyone at Freshheads.”
Adding job listings by employers in the Wiertz app had to be super easy. And for the usability of the onboarding process for job seekers and searching for vacancies, only the highest level was good enough. Mark: “The app that existed did not fit well with that user centered mindset. Buttons were in illogical places, the process was overly complicated. You'd need to study half a degree to understand that app. Together with the client, we quickly decided: this can be improved.”
''You can lock yourself away for weeks and build something beautiful, but what's the point if no one uses it?''
Iterative development
App, backend, and frontend: everything went back to the drawing board. Good to know: Freshheads works with multidisciplinary teams and in sprints. Essentially, an MVP is delivered as quickly and simply as possible, so smoke testing can begin early in a development trajectory. Mark: “The frontend then looks good, only the backend is still held together with proverbial tape. It’s a waste to invest a lot of development time in something of which you're not yet sure if it will work.” In the case of Wiertz Direct, this was slightly different. The backend had to be right from the start, because it processes quite a lot of personal data. Misha, laughing: “You certainly don't want a user to see someone else's info on their screen. So, we locked that down immediately with the right tests.”
''There is no noise, because as a developer you talk directly with the designer and with the product owner on the customer side.''
Direct communication with the client
Working at Freshheads means closely collaborating with colleagues from different disciplines. If Yannick, Mark, or Misha developed something new, they immediately checked with designer and strategist (and colleague) Nick to see if it fit the strategy for Wiertz. The lines with the product owner at Wiertz are also short. For questions or wishes about the software, the developers communicated directly with the client. Yannick: “That is very pleasant. There is no noise, as you talk directly with each other. Additionally, you get to know each other personally. You know that when you create or adjust something, your client will be extremely happy. For me, that is really a motivation to go the extra mile in my work. The direct contact with the client makes working at Freshheads especially valuable for me.”
''As developers, we have internal guidelines regarding language and tools, but there is also plenty of room to innovate. And we make very conscious time for that.''
Continuous innovation
What about programming language and tooling at Freshheads - is everything set in stone, or is there room for flexibility? Mark: “We have a certain foundation in place, with a set of tools that have quite a bit of research time invested.” In hours that were available aside from projects, Mark set up a UI design with which he could easily apply various visual styles from mobile without code. This code proved very useful for Wiertz. “That's what's cool about Freshheads. You have a lot of responsibility and freedom. If you have free hours, everyone trusts that you'll use them wisely. This was something I really took the time for once, and which yielded a lot of benefits for this project.” Misha: “As developers, we have internal guidelines regarding language and tools, but there is also plenty of room to innovate. And we make very conscious time for that. We take learnings from previous projects into new projects. It's truly an iterative process, where we constantly refine ourselves and our methods.” For Wiertz, Misha worked with Symfony, and added an API platform to it. “This supports both RESTful and GraphQL, and makes it much more efficient and quicker to send data.” All in all, Mark reflects, the way of working at Freshheads ensured that he developed very quickly over the past years. Knowledge that he was now very happy to use for a big player like Wiertz. “Precisely due to the freedom and responsibility we receive and share here, development happens very quickly. For our customers, but also for myself. And that's something to be proud of.”