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Culture

Learning from Covid-19
Summary of key themes from the Doing Data Together conference hosted virtually by The Scotsman newspaper and Edinburgh University in November 2020. The conference agenda was pivoted to focus on the use of data to help tackle the Covid-19 pandemic. It provided a fascinating insight into the lessons learned.

Does your GitHub Repo need 'Code Operations'?
CodeOps enables you to layer standards, automation, and governance to your source control repositories, decreasing manual effort and increasing productivity.

DevOps: Build Bridges not Silver Bullets
Building a system that solves even just 10% of a problem is a worthwhile endeavour, not just because of the value the 10% delivers but because its mere existence will lower the barrier-to-entry for your colleagues to collaboratively iterate on it - not so much 'Build it and they will come' as 'Build a road and they will come'

Why you should apply for an apprenticeship at endjin...
At endjin we solve complex problems which cover a huge range of cloud services, data science techniques and industries. The work we do is massively varied and in this there is a huge opportunity. Hear about Carmel's experience in completing her apprenticeship here at endjin, and why you should consider our apprenticeship scheme!

Guardian Masterclass - An introduction to Data Visualisation
A few years ago, I attended a Guardian 1-day Masterclass - Introduction to Data Visualisation. What I did not know then was that it would have a profound effect on how I view design. This blog is a recap of that day and reference points to consider when designing and creating graphics for data visualisation.

Depositing Cheques via a Mobile Banking Experience
It is possibly that I have only recently discovered one of my favourite pieces of UX whilst on lockdown - Mobile cheques deposits via digital imaging in my banking app. In this short post I share my experience of discovering a simple but practical piece of UX that made me happy.

Maintaining communication and relationships within a remote team
With a lot of people all over the world suddenly finding themselves working remotely, I thought I’d share some thoughts on what I think is one of the most challenging parts of a company going fully remote: maintaining relationships.

What should I do next? - How to choose accomplishable tasks
If, like me, you often find yourself unable to decide how to spend your time productively, it might be worth giving this post a read! Here Carmel runs through some of the things to consider when deciding which task to tackle next. These tasks can be anything from "send out finance report", to "call mum", to "decide where to go on holiday next year". We have a huge amount of options when deciding how to spend our time, so here are some strategies for whittling down that choice!

Handling upheaval and navigating uncertain times
I doubt that it's escaped anyone's notice that we have suddenly been thrown into a world which is pretty unrecognisable from that of even a few weeks ago. And I don't think any of us can claim to be managine it well all of the time, but in this post Carmel runs through some of the strategies and coping mechanisms which have helped her adjust.

Effectively managing mental capacity
We are currently living in extremely uncertain times. As we try to process these changes, many of us have found that we do not have the same mental capacity we once did. Some of that might be due to extra constraints on our time, but a lot of our brain-power is also spent trying to process the huge worldwide changes which are currently taking place. In this blog, Carmel talks about some techniques for managing that mental capacity, and how those apply in an ever-changing world.

Help for the new CTO: Getting to know your team
As part of my series on guidance for CTOs, I discuss using the Office of the CTO (OCTO) approach to management, its strengths and limitations.

Help for the new CTO: Transparent salaries and the gender pay gap
Salaries. What a nightmare! Hardly anyone likes talking about money. Technical people don't like talking about money. Even a lot of sales people don't like talking about money. When a CTO comes into an organization (even a brand new start-up) one of the first things you need to sort out is the salary quagmire. In this article we look at the strategies and pitfalls of introducing open, capability-based pay levels for a product development team.

British Science Week - inspiring the next generation of data scientists
The theme of this year's British Science Week (6 - 15 March 2020) is "Our Diverse Planet". We'll be getting involved by speaking to school children about the work we've been doing with Oxfordshire-based OceanMind (part of the Microsoft AI for Good programme) to help them combat illegal fishing, hopefully inspiring some of the next generation of data scientists!

A brief introduction to GTD (Getting Things Done)
Getting Things Done (GTD) is a workflow designed to increase productivity and decrease stress. In this post, Mike Larah talks about what's involved with GTD, and what he learned whilst attending a recent course.

NDC London Day 3 Retrospective - from personal projects to developer comedy
Along with several of my endjin colleagues, I attended NDC London in January this year - here's a run through of the sessions I attended on Day 3 and my thoughts. This final day was a mixed bag, taking in talks on drumming and AKKA.net, as well as something a bit more close to home - a session from endjin's own Jess Panni and Carmel Eve on our recent project for OceanMind.

Mental health and managing the challenges of remote working
Remote working has many benefits. It allows us a huge amount of freedom, especially around managing our personal and professional lives. But alongside these benefits it also brings challenges. When you combine these challenges with certain aspects of mental health it can sometimes be difficult to manage. However, there are also ways in which remote work can enable us to control our environments in a way that would be extremely difficult if working from a conventional office. We have been a fully remote company now for over two years, and in this post Carmel shares some of her experiences of managing mental health whilst remote working.

NDC London Day 2 Retrospective - Full Stack, from SPAs to high performance .NET Core via Websockets
Along with several of my endjin colleagues, I attended NDC London in January this year - here's a run through of the sessions I attended on Day 2 and my thoughts. This day was UI heavy, with sessions on Vuejs and UI testing, but I also learned more about GraphQL and writing high performance C# code.

NDC London Day 1 Retrospective - dangerous AI, microservices, diagnostics and Blazor
A retrospective of my first day at NDC London 2020, taking in sessions on AI and Machine Learning, Capability Mapping, Micro Frontends, Diagnostics and Blazor.

NDC London - A dive into responsible and inclusive technology
NDC London day 1 was mainly focused around the responsibility we all face when developing new technology. As developers we cannot absolve ourselves of the consequences of not considering diversity and inclusivity when designing our solutions.

AI for Good Hackathon
Towards the end of last year, Microsoft invited endjin along to a hackathon session they hosted at the IET in London as part of their AI for Good initiative. I've been thinking about the event and the broader work Microsoft is doing here a lot lately, because it gets to the heart of what I love about working in this industry: computers can magnify our power to do to good.

Careers in software development - different paths into the industry
There are many different paths into the tech industry, Carmel has been speaking at some local schools about joining the industry from a scientific background. In this post she discusses the crucial tools which science gives you which can help you succeed in tech!

Rising Stars - Cloud Apprentice & Apprentice Engineer of the Year

Reactive data processing and a huge wealth of learning - A year as an Apprentice II at endjin
Here is a blog written by our apprentice Carmel after her second year of the apprenticeship. We think it demonstrates the huge variety of things we get to work on here at endjin, and highlights the best of the blogs that Carmel produced through during the year - of which there were a lot!If you think an apprenticeship with us is something which might interest you - send a CV through to hello@endjin.com!

A beginner's guide to agile estimation and planning
In this post Carmel runs through some of the main principles behind agile estimation and planning. At endjin we use a lot of these techniques in our projects and this is a great post which highlights the reasons behind some of what we do. The key motivation behind good estimation is to be useful for project planning. There is a huge amount of inherent uncertainty surrounding estimates, especially early in the project. So, we shift our aim from 100% precise, or "true", estimates, and towards providing estimates which are useful and accurate. Carmel also runs through the steps in an agile delivery and release process. Definitely worth the read if you have an interest in agile and/or project management!
Good Reads in 2018

Women in technology: Driving positive change in the industry
Anyone can be a role model. You don't have to be a veteran in the industry to inspire someone. There are constantly people coming through the pipeline behind you, and in that there is an opportunity to make a real difference.What can you do to drive positive change and help combat the gender imbalance in the tech industry?

Thoughts about .NET, The Cloud, AI, ML, and teaching software engineers

Joining endjin as a Technical Fellow

Branches, builds and modern data pipelines. Let's catch-up!
As an apprentice engineer at endjin, you cover a lot of ground, especially at a consultancy which works with the latest and greatest tools to solve its clients' problems. Learn about endjin's Modern Data Platform, which is a culmination of IP, processes and knowledge built from years of implementing high-performance data-driven solutions. Also learn about the types of tools an apprentice gets to use, and the types of things an apprentice learns along the way.

From collection vans to collection interfaces - my first week back at endjin
Here is a post that Carmel wrote not long after she started back at endjin. Time has really flown since then, but it provides some great insight into how our apprenticeships work!If an apprenticeship and endjin sounds like something that might be of interest to you, send your CV over to hello@endjin.com!

Becoming an endjineer – week 1

Snap Back to Reality – Month 2 & 3 of my Apprenticeship
Learn what types of things an apprentice gets up to at endjin a few months after joining. You could be learning about Neural Networks: algorithms which mimic the way biological systems process information. You could be attending Microsoft's Future Decoded conference, learning about Bots, CosmosDB, IoT and much more. Hopefully, you wouldn't be in hospital after a ruptured appendix!

My first month as an apprentice at endjin
Structured apprenticeships provide a great way to build skills whilst getting real-life experience. Endjin's apprenticeship scheme has been refined over years, with an optimal mixture of training, project work, and exposure to commercial processes - a scheme which is designed to build strong foundations for a well-rounded Software Engineering consultant. This post explains the transition from university to an apprenticeship at endjin, including the types of work an apprentice could end up doing, and some examples of real-life learnings from a real-life apprentice.

2 Day Microsoft Bot Framework Hackathon with Watchfinder

My final year as a software engineering apprentice at endjin

Is JavaScript still dead?

Top Gadget Purchases of 2016

A Bit of a Christmas Do in the Country with Benchpeg
In 2016, endjin redesigned the Benchpeg website, migrating it from a 10-year-old platform over to our own CMS system - Vellum – so the Benchpeg team could have greater control over their content management and halve the day-to-day workload for generating content. This is a creative post about the practical experiences gained from 1-day silversmithing workshop at the invitation of Benchpeg.

Bermondsey barber gets a website for Christmas after featuring in Time Out London
Journalist Danielle Goldstein interviewed local barber Vangelos Georgiou, who has been cutting hair at George Gents' Hairdresser on Bermondsey street (near endjin's old office) since 1970. In the Time Out London article, Georgiou mentioned that he didn't have a phone or website because of the expense. The team at endjin spotted the article and decided to step in and help - building him a new website to help attract and inform customers.

Welcome to an internship at endjin!
A career in software engineering doesn't need to start with a Computer Science degree. The underlying traits of problem solving, a willingness to learn and the ability to collaborate well can be built in any field. Internships provide a great way to get your foot-in-the-door in the professional world, and arm you with some real-life experience for future endeavours. This post describes an internship at endjin, including the type of work you could be asked to do and what you could learn.

Reasons to: Round up of the Sessions I Attended
The 3-day "Reasons To" conference was held in Brighton in September 2016. The conference is a fusion of disciplines: design, development, illustration, 3D modelling and data visualisation to name a few. In this post Paul Waller provides an overview of the sessions he attended and the ideas that really sparked his imagination.

All Bootcamped Out: the 5-day workshop survival guide
We've been running workshops and training sessions for a long time now, and one thing we've learned from that is that PEOPLE DO WORKSHOPS WRONG. From MBA classes, to design sessions, there seems to be a common problem: burn-out. We give you a survival guide for multi-day bootcamps and workshops, to get the most out of them, and take care of yourself in the process.

My internship at endjin – New Proposition Development, Programming, and a very long list of acronyms

Microsoft Azure Most Valuable Professional 2016
It is with a huge amount of honour to announce that endjin co-founder, Howard van Rooijen, has been awarded an Azure MVP award for his contributions to the Azure ecosystem.

Guest Blog Post: Hello World! I'm Adanma and I'm doing work experience.

Year 2 as a software engineering apprentice at endjin

My Apprenticeship Retrospective
In this post, Mike Larah reflects on his experiences going through the endjin apprenticeship scheme

We are in the era of the modern browser - market share analysis January 2016

My first month at endjin

March 2015 Browser Share
Want to work smarter, grow faster and be happier? endjin is hiring!

February 2015 Browser Share

A step-by-step guide to technology startups, valuation and the VC market
In this article we look at how technology startups are valued, how investors calculate their return, how you can position your business in that landscape, and whether you should!

January 2015 Browser Share

Have you signed up for the Azure Weekly newsletter?

Guest Blog Post: End of Week Two Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: Week Two – Day Four of Work Experience 2014

Guest Blog Post: Week Two - Day Three of Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: Week Two - Day Two Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: Start of Week Two Work Experience (2014)
Guest Blog Post: End of Week One Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: Third Day of Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: Second Day of Work Experience (2014)

Guest Blog Post: First Day of Work Experience (2014)

End of Month Research Roundup – June 2014

Designing for television: food safe props for The Great British Menu 2014
Throughout endjin's history we have been invited to work on a host of projects. In late 2013 we were asked if we could produce a series of graphics props for the Great British Menu 2014. In this post we talk about the research and production methods behind developing graphics for television.
End of Month Research Roundup – May 2014
End of Month Research Roundup – April 2014
End of Month Research Roundup – March 2014
Building an Epic Dev Rig for less than £1600 (2014 Edition)
End of Month Research Roundup – February 2014
Apprenticeship Week 2 – Getting Started with Behaviour Driven Development
Apprenticeship Day 5
Apprenticeship Day 4
Apprenticeship Day 3
Apprenticeship Day 2
Apprenticeship Day 1
End of Month Research Roundup – January 2014
Equipping a kick-ass meeting room for less than £1500
End of Week Research Roundup
Making the move from iOS to Windows Phone 8

Guest Blog Post: Work Experience at endjin – Week 2

Guest Blog Post: Work Experience at endjin - Week 1
PowerShell Best Kept Secrets: Splatting
DDD10 Conference
Windows 8 Development Camp

Apprenticeship Week 2
End of the first week
Day 3: Client meeting
Day 2: Errors and Debugging

Mike Larah is an Apprentice Endjineer
Dev4Good July 2011
On .NET Rocks! Talking about Sharp Architecture, Templify and StyleCop

Quiet day on Monday

On Apprenticeships
Where do my Visual States come from in Blend?
Endjin–Looking back on 2010
Work Smarter with Convention Over Configuration and the Endjin Composition Framework
Layering your API

RX and INotifyPropertyChanged
Silverlight CommandManager
