In the third month of the trainee program, we trainees were given the task of developing a software solution. We were allowed to implement our first DevOps project. For a period of four weeks, we took on the role of developer, supported by an experienced project manager and product owner. Our task was to develop an automation solution that efficiently removes the desired data statuses from specified systems.

In the following, we report on our experiences during the project.

What have you learned?

The team project allowed me to immerse myself in practice for the first time, both at the front end and to a certain extent at the back end. It was exciting to see how theory and practice suddenly went hand in hand. I found the week in which I was allowed to act as a Scrum Master particularly cool, which was a particularly insightful experience for me. It was exciting to see how the daily work with Scrum had a positive effect on the dynamics in the team. The use of tools such as Git for version control and Docker for containerization was also very beneficial for me in the project. The opportunity to host a web application on-premise was also very helpful for me and gave me new technical insights.

Which tools/languages etc. did you work with?

As part of the team project, I worked intensively with the tools Visual Studio Code, GitLab and ALM Octane. I was able to expand my knowledge of the scripting languages HTML and CSS.

It was my first time really getting to grips with Python and I used PyCharm as my IDE. PyCharm was nothing completely new to me because I already have a lot of experience with the other IDEs from JetBrains. But I was also working with Flask for the first time. Flask helped me to build my own web applications flexibly, which was also surprisingly easy.

How did you like agile working with SCRUM?

I enjoyed working with Scrum and loved being a Scrum Master. I recognized the benefits of effectively managed dailies, retros and sprint planning. I think it’s easy to neglect the requirements of Scrum in day-to-day work, but I believe that Scrum, when done correctly, can promote team collaboration and project success. I found it interesting to learn that Scrum offers opportunities to resolve conflicts within the team and can thus continuously contribute to better collaboration.

What was your task?

I had a variety of tasks. From carrying out a risk analysis to designing the front end of our application and configuring the web server. The great thing about the team project was that we went through almost the entire DevOps cycle and I was able to learn something at every stage.

What did a typical working day in the team project look like?

After arriving at the office, I started working on my current user story. At 9:30 a.m., we met daily in the Scrum team to discuss current tasks and potential roadblocks. I then continued my work on the user story, often in collaboration or consultation with my fellow trainees. If necessary, we sought the advice of experienced colleagues and used their expertise.

A typical day naturally started with the daily. After that, it was mostly about self-study before we were able to implement the user stories together as a team. If someone got stuck on a tricky point, we often had a quick chat. In between, there was a coffee and every now and then an opportunity to talk. This brought us all closer together and created a pleasantly relaxed atmosphere.

What advice would you give future trainees for the team project?

Reserve the right to question orders from the project manager or the status quo as to whether they make sense. As experienced consultants, you sometimes have a better way of working and could skillfully argue for this.

Have the courage to ask questions and make the best of your mistakes. This is the only way you can grow from your experiences. Take the opportunity to try out new things and, above all, be open with your team members. A good team is half the battle, the other half is having fun learning and developing.

You don’t have to do everything you are told, the final project is also intended to teach you how to tell the customer in a customer context that their idea doesn’t exactly make sense for the project goal. But of course you have to express this professionally.

How did you organize yourselves as a team?

We held daily meetings and organized additional weekly sprint events such as sprint planning and retrospectives. The current user stories and tasks were recorded on a shared whiteboard. We created tasks in Microsoft Planner and assigned them to team members. To make our work transparent and accessible to everyone, we wrote documentation in MS Note.