What I learned at Edenspiekermann

I have had the pleasure of working at Edenspiekermann for two years. Although I decided a few weeks ago that it is time for a new challenge and to move on, I wanted to take some time to look back at what I have learned.

Front End Development

I learned a ton about Ruby Frameworks, I learned how to develop components in React, I sharpened my SASS skills and became very comfortable in using the Terminal.

When I started at Edenspiekermann I thought I knew Front End Development. It kind of turned out that I had no clue about what belongs to Front Development these days. Although the borders between FrontEnd and BackEnd Development are becoming harder to define I was blown away by the knowledge a good Front End Developer requires today. I learned a ton about Ruby Frameworks, I learned how to develop components in React, I sharpened my SASS skills and became very comfortable in using the Terminal. I know how to use Grunt and Gulp which was also quite handy in some freelance work and also touched Stylus. To sum up, it was quite a ride.

Service Design

Service Design, or delivering the best customer experience, should be a part of every project we as designers are working on. That means doing proper workshops to gain insights about clients and their customers is a crucial part for the success of a project. Developing personas, visualizing customer journeys and preparing workshops is a common task at Edenspiekermann and I always enjoyed the moment clients realized why we were doing this. I am glad to have learned and practiced those skills.

Design

Starting with the big picture, sketching out alternatives and narrowing it down to the tiny details pretty much sums up the design process I got used to in my daily work. This method changed how I tackle my projects now. Although you should never follow these steps dogmatically and always step back from time to time to adapt the process to different circumstances. The design quality at Edenspiekermann is very high and to work with so many talented people was pretty inspiring. After two years of working there I am more confident in my design decisions and I am also better at giving design feedback to others.

Bringing it all together

The best part of working at Edenspiekermann is, that you (mostly) work in a team. If you’re stuck in a project, someone will always jump in and help you solve the issue. Most of the time working in agile processes makes life easier. It helps to hold the team together in the daily work. I never had better relationships with clients before.

Why I leave Edenspiekermann

While I enjoyed my two years at Edenspiekermann and am thankful for everything that I’ve learned it is time for me to move on. The pace of projects has always been quite fast. I want to spend more time again to focus on specific problems. I want to accompany projects for a longer time frame to change and adapt decisions along the way– maybe you could describe it as a product design focus.

I am excited to have the chance to do so very soon. My new challenge is about to start in October and I will write about it soon. But to sum up – thank you Edenspiekermann, thanks for having me, it has been a fantastic journey.