I call this "the permaresearch queue". Stuff that just becomes perpetually research, and you get more out of doing the research than doing the thing. For me right now is learning how to build a shed. I have a feeling it could also be called "procrastiresearch" too!
Sabre Labs is the dedicated emerging tech and innovation lab at Sabre, and we’re looking for a full-stack developer who leans towards the backend of the spectrum.
We are tasked with exploring and prototyping new product experiences using the emerging technologies with the highest potential impact on the travel industry. We build prototype applications for mobile, web, IoT, and other emerging platforms (AR, VR, etc.). We are a small, multi-functional group that values design, development, and business equally and strives to provide thought leadership for our company, our customers and the broader travel industry. We’re a tight-knit group obsessed with all things tech, travel, and tacos.
Feel free to send me an email about any questions, even if you’re not looking: burin.asavesna [at] sabre.com or ping me via direct message on Twitter: @burin
Sabre Labs is the dedicated emerging tech and innovation lab at Sabre, and we’re looking for a full-stack developer who leans towards the backend of the spectrum.
We are tasked with exploring and prototyping new product experiences using the emerging technologies with the highest potential impact on the travel industry. We build prototype applications for mobile, web, IoT, and other emerging platforms (AR, VR, etc.). We are a small, multi-functional group that values design, development, and business equally and strives to provide thought leadership for our company, our customers and the broader travel industry. We’re a tight-knit group obsessed with all things tech, travel, and tacos.
Feel free to send me an email about any questions, even if you’re not looking: burin.asavesna [at] sabre.com or ping me via direct message on Twitter: @burin
TripCase is looking for Rails and JavaScript application devs.
Our tech stack: Ruby on Rails for the service layer and desktop app with RSpec and Capybara for testing. JavaScript/HTML5 for the mobile clients (Backbone.js, Require.js, PhoneGap, Grunt) with Jasmine for testing. Sass + Compass for styles.
TripCase is an app that helps you manage your travel itinerary. We notify you when your gate changes or when your flight is delayed, and provide helpful messages and tools during your trip.
How we work:
* Git has changed the way we work, and our development/deployment process is heavily influenced by it
* We're an Agile shop and pair pretty frequently and watch each other's backs
* Our product manager and designers are integrated on our teams
* Stories aren't done until they have automated test coverage
* Our Rails folks write mobile client code and vice versa
* We use Trello and Campfire to stay on top of things
* Our Joel on Software test score is about 11.
* Test-driven development
* Macs
Some things we have on our plate:
* Automated CSS tests (with Sass + Compass making it so easy to refactor and author CSS, it's also super easy to break stuff. We are getting tired of ⌘+R all day)
* Automate all the things
* Automated/continuous iOS and Android builds
* Vagrant VMs with Chef Solo for development
If you want to learn more, just ping me: burin.asavesna [at] sabre.com
TripCase is hiring for a few positions, and we're looking for Rails and JavaScript application devs.
TripCase is an app that helps you manage your travel itinerary. We notify you when your gate changes or when your flight is delayed, and provide helpful messages and tools during your trip.
Our tech stack: Ruby on Rails for the service layer and desktop app with RSpec and Capybara for testing. JavaScript/HTML5 for the mobile clients (Backbone.js, Require.js, PhoneGap, Grunt) with Jasmine for testing. Sass + Compass for styles.
How we work:
* Git has changed the way we work, and our development/deployment process is heavily influenced by it
* We're and Agile shop and pair pretty frequently and watch each other's backs
* Our product manager and designers are integrated on our teams
* Stories aren't done until they have automated test coverage
* Our Rails folks write mobile client code and vice versa
* We use Trello and Campfire to stay on top of things
* Our Joel on Software test score is about 11.
* Test-driven development
* Macs
Some things we have on our plate:
* Automated CSS tests (with Sass + Compass making it so easy to refactor and author CSS, it's also super easy to break stuff. We are getting tired of ⌘+R all day)
* Automate all the things
* Automated/continuous iOS and Android builds
* Vagrant VMs with Chef Solo for development
If you want to learn more, just ping me: burin.asavesna [at] sabre.com
I've felt the same way for my whole life, and the idea of a pre-cation is how I have to trick myself into taking time off too.
My first jobs were "in my spare time", and instead of taking a vacation from school to go party in Cancun for Spring Break (spend time AND money), I'd work. Mostly to pay for more school OR for that sweet computer I wanted.
Since having a "real job", my brain still considers vacation as "time I'm not earning money", even though it's Paid Time Off. Even when I do manage to trick myself into vacation, they're usually "active" trips, where I feel like every minute needs to be spent doing something "productive" like snorkeling or feeding sharks. You won't find me laying out on the beach anywhere!
The ironic thing is that I work in the travel industry and I know how important this stuff is! I think our problem is that we want to create value with our limited time on this planet, so maybe we need to consider it to be an investment that will pay us back in inspiration later down the road.
mattt has a ton of useful gems that interact with Apple's products. https://github.com/mattt/cupertino is another one that interacts with the Apple Dev Center
Thanks for putting this together! I think more designers should be exploring the possibilities of these real-time frameworks :) Today, it just seems like something a lot of devs get excited about, but I think it's when designers get a hold of something that the REALLY cool stuff starts showing up.
P.S. I'm a subscriber to your newsletter -- great stuff! Keep it up.
This is great! I work as a dev on a related travel product (mentioned in a comment here actually) and our in-progress redesign has the things you mention as priorities (speed/clarity).
I'm going to go ahead and say travel apps in general suck, so I'm not surprised to hear your sentiment towards TripIt's iPhone app haha.
One thing that I appreciate is that you understand the difficulty in designing these kinds of apps. On the surface it's "oh. well it's really just a bunch of lists and buttons with labels and text", and I think that's the approach a LOT of travel companies take. They value the tech/info more than the way it's presented. Luckily there is a LOT of room for improvement in this industry, and with devs who care about experience and designers who understand tech we should be able to make a big dent. I honestly thought TripIt would be one of those companies though...
I've used Backbone for a handful of projects already and went through exactly what you're describing. As a result, all my projects look different, structure-wise.
I have started to standardize the way I use Backbone, though, with app directory structure, naming conventions, etc. I've also started using require.js which also provides the benefit of forcing you to write modular code.
I found myself writing the same stuff over and over and created a generator that has all these things I've learned over the last few projects: generating a 'shell' application, generating some models/collections/views with boilerplate code (along with some specs to go with them) putting everything in the corresponding directory.
I used Ben Nolan's `capt` as a starting point and added a bunch of stuff that suits my needs.