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Barnabas Olugbogi
Barnabas Olugbogi

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Am I just coding or solving problems?

An Interesting point to kickstart this conversation would be a recent happen at Codesmith — a programming school from where a graduate secured a role that required someone who understood how to activate mass audiences.

So, what more delightful match than an engineer who mastered the art of connecting mass audiences with stories and products.

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Yes, you could have been amazed at this kind of shocking reality where you learn how to use a tool but end up getting hired, not because of how well you know this tool but how well you can use it to solve problems.

Solving problems should be the priority of developers while learning how to use a tool like Javascript or React.

We should use tools to solve problems and not the other way round.

A problem statement from Mr Garter could be:

“Our business is a fast paced one where customers come to our shops to buy food and drinks but due to a shortage of workers, we created a web app for customers to place order online while the orders are being attended to.

This app lags during weekend when a lot of customers make their orders, how can we achieve a fast and seamless experience for our customers?”

The problem here is not testing how well you know Javascript or any of its framework.

It is testing your problem solving ability with the knowledge of what you know.

Now let’s spot the possiblities for this lag:

1. Shipping too much Javascript to the user in form of expensive Javascript heavy animations.

2. Using Javascript in place of CSS.

3. Unoptimised Images and Font files.

5. Not prioritising the most important web pages and trying to load every page at once.

6. Poor Content Delivery Network, Web Hosting and many more.

As a developer, you will have to sit and find out what the problem is and proffer optimal solution to it.

My Optimal Solution:

If after fixing the bottlenecks above, you cannot still find a solution.

A Progressive web app would be a temporary solution while you envisage building a mobile app for the business.
Thank you for reading!

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