Not only a Java house

If you meet IT folks out there, very likely the general perception about Codeborne is “a Java house”. Is it true?

Real facts

Although Codeborne has been around for more than 10 years, let’s look at a somewhat shorter timeline. Let’s take the last 24 months. What stack have we used in reality during that time?

We ran a poll within our company and everyone marked what they have used the last 24 months. Each figure in the following charts represents how many people have used a particular technology in that timeframe.

By the way, there have been close to 30 projects in our hands during that short timeframe!

Languages

Other being Ruby (3) and Objective C (2)

Margo gets to know Kotlin

In the beginning, I was not very impressed and I was not the only one on the team. Maybe that groupthink caused the initial attitude. As time went by while actually working with it, I started to discover more and more its benefits and to like it. First I used it together with Java developing new services, later in an internet bank project, and most recently developing a native mobile app. Here Kotlin helped to write things a lot shorter compared with other tools. This once again proves: use the right tools for the right occasion. This fits as well with one of the key principles of Codeborne - less is more :)

Sidenote! We have a true Kotlin specialist, sorry, the evangelist in our company - [Anton] (https://github.com/angryziber), of course!

UI frameworks

Other being Jetpack (3) and Threejs (2)

Valeri wanted to learn Swift

For a long, I wanted to build mobile apps. Tried before alone, but individual learning is not as effective as in pairs. Once I was able to do it together in a real project, the learning curve was very steep. To me, it was very close to Kotlin, something from Javascript, eventually not too difficult to master. As the next challenge, I would like to get involved in a server-side Swift project.

UI

Databases

Server

Testing

Build environments

Other being Bamboo (3), Fastlane (3), Snowpack (2) and Circle CI (2)

Platforms & services

Other being Openshift (4) and Kubernetes (2)

Three.js - Dmitry

We were working on a project with quite demanding visualization needs (a roof and solar panels on it in all possible variations). When choosing between the tools to use, we found Three.js. At the first glimpse, it was like something really easy to play with. Especially for a person who has not intensely worked with 3D before. While working with it and solving more challenging tasks, we found there is a lot of mathematics behind the 3D capabilities and Three.js hides it very well from you. Like modeling different levels of light during the day on an object to project the shades etc. In the end very powerful tool that also a person without previous 3D experience could use.

First impression - not quite a Java-only house, isn’t it? One thing is certain - there is always an opportunity to learn something new as a new project comes along or technology advances.

PS! BTW, did you know that there are people in Codeborne who have not written a line of code in Java while working with us?