Hi, I'm Paul And I love Web Apps
In an age where slow, faulty software is the default, I love being part of teams who value quality.
My Repertoire
Java
When I started my coding education in 2009, Java was one of the first languages I've learned and to this day, its development is awesome.
Especially the latest versions have reduced verbosity and improved performance even further, while guaranteeing stability.
Angular
I was lucky enough to get into Angular effectively right from the start with Angular 4, skipping AngularJs.
When Google showed they still believe in Angular with the great overhaul on version 17, I knew I wanted to stick with it.
Spring Boot
Working with Spring Boot almost feels magical — there is so much included, that whenever I need some backend feature, I always double, triple check to see if Spring Boot includes it.
And most of the time, it really does: a true batteries-included framework, if I've ever seen one.
Tailwind
I always wanted to get better at styling, but in enterprise projects looks mostly aren't seen as important.
When I embarked on my own to improve my styling skills, I looked into Tailwind and quickly became a fan.
It let me build better styled UIs right away, and also made me curious, which in turn taught me CSS.
Azure
Azure is #1 for enterprises in the cloud - the amount of available services and the seemingly limitless scalability are impressive.
Given the vast amount of services, I don't think there is anyone who knows all of them, but having worked with Azure in projects big and small, I think there is no service I can't keep up with. 😁
PostgreSQL
As a huge proponent of open source software, Postgres is the obvious choice for me.
I actually do have more experience working with MSSQL, but while both don't really have an edge over the other in terms of stability, I found that Postgres always just has the features you want.
DaisyUI
DaisyUI is impressive — a free and open source UI component library without any runtime dependency? Seems too good to be true, but it's real.
I have never seen a more beautiful collection of UI components ready to be used, just given to you.
A project I will support, in one way or another!
Hetzner
With GitHub constantly "threatening" to increase the prices, specifically for the Action Runners, I looked into an alternative for hosting my git server.
Hetzner is without competition when it comes to pricing — they even sent a comprehensive email apologising and explaining when they had to increase the price a little bit. Way to go!
Playwright
Automated software testing is imperative if you want quality!
And for smaller teams, frontend system tests surely deliver the most bang for your buck.
Moderate amount of effort, but the system is tested front to back.
Playwright is without a doubt the current choice for this.
smith&tonic's own
doformo
doformo is a place for people to find joy in DIY projects.
The web app not only offers the capability to plan and document the process for your own projects, but also to
share them with the community.
You can also use doformo as a platform to look for inspiration and interact with creators who choose to
publish their work.
Everyone that joins gets to experience the full app for free for the first week, and after that there's the
option to use its basic features for free, forever!
Professionals have
Standards
Quality First
Often times doing a quick fix is seen as a cost cutting measure, but in reality there are seldom scenarios,
in which a quick solution is actually cheaper in the long run.
The fear to not have a quick time to market or the like, lets people forget that even if there is a product
users like, they will eventually want new features and / or find bugs, and if these updates cannot be
delivered, users may very often leave, or at least not be happy with the software and not recommend it to
their peers but possibly even advise them not to get the software.
Teamwork
In every project I have yet been a part of, the same thing showed time and time again — if everybody works
alone, you will fail alone; if everybody works as a team, you will succeed as a team!
Creating my own product was the first time I truly worked alone, and while it was a lot of fun and taught me
a lot, had it not been for my good friends (who are also developers), whom I could talk to about my project,
I don't know that it would have turned out half as good.
Joy
Of course working on a project is, and should not be the same as what you do in your free time, but having fun and being engaged at work is not only better for the person working on the project, but also increases the quality and in turn makes the product cheaper and more liked by the users.