5 Years at WJPS

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Steven, our lead developerIntroduction

Hi, I'm Steven, the Lead Developer at WJP Software Limited.

The 7th of December 2020 marks 5 years since James hired me (probably reluctantly) as a Junior Developer, and I thought it would be a great opportunity to reflect on the past 5 years. From my perspective, I will look at:

How far WJPS has come in that time? 

How far I have come in that time? 

And what is to come over the next 5 years?

 

Company Progression & Achievements

Since joining WJPS in 2015 I have seen the business grow and expand tremendously. In my time here so far I have seen us:

  • Install MRS (Microbiological Reporting System) into several Microbiology labs all over the country. 
  • Implement MRS AF (Additional Features) to many of our MRS customers. 
  • Launch over 17 new websites using our WCS (Web Communication System) platform.
  • Offer new products such as EWT (Environmental Water Testing). 

Along with the increase in customers, I have seen great improvements to our internal workings too. We have achieved ISO 9001 & 27001 accreditation, and thanks to Jo implemented and continued to improve our office protocols and guidelines. We have seen 4 developers through our doors in the last 5 years, all of which have been a great asset during their times with us, and recently we have added Toby into a dedicated support role, which has already helped move the business forward with more focused customer support and improved help guides & documentation. 

Personal Progression & Achievements

Along with the company's progression, I have seen progression in myself as well. Such as, becoming a more rounded software developer, and improving other skills as well such as customer support and project management.

Some of my favourite achievements over the last 5 years have been:

  • Launching many of the local council websites using the WCS platform.
  • Increasing the usability of WCS and improving the aesthetics, using new technologies and frameworks.
  • Dramatically improving the security of WCS by implementing more modern standards and through vigorous testing for vulnerabilities. 
  • Developing bespoke features in WCS to solve some of our customers' problems. 
  • Learning MRS inside-out in order to offer customer support during a very difficult 2018.
  • Taking on the role of Lead Developer, leading the direction for many of our products. 
  • Developing MRS 3 to build on the weaknesses of MRS 2.
  • Building automation and congregating our products' development environments in order to improve development workflow and efficiency. 
  • Helping the office to quickly transition to home working during the events of 2020, which have been very successful. 

 

The Next 5 Years

The progression I have seen in WJPS over the previous 5 years has been tremendous, and I can only see that continuing into the next 5 years. I look forward to us expanding the team further, offering more features on our existing products, and offering new products altogether. Some of the plans we have are:

  • Roll-out and further development of MRS 3 - This has already started this year, and we have seen some great feedback for the new system. I look forward to perfecting MRS 3 and offering new features that can help its users get through their work as efficiently as possible.
  • Improvements to EWT - With the recent advancements we have made in MRS 3, there is an opportunity to also improve the user experience of EWT.
  • Re-write of WCS (I still need to convince James to let me do this 😅) - Using the skills I have developed with the Web Interface of MRS 3 and some of our internal systems, we can build a sleek, flexible, fast, and secure platform to take WCS into the next 10 years. This will have a focus on user-friendliness in order to offer our customer the best platform to reach their audiences, no matter what device they access the websites on.
  • Writing a regular development blog - As part of a social media/customer engagement push we are trying, I will be starting development blog on our website, where I will be going into detail about upcoming changes to our products, some of the tools and techniques I use, and sneak peeks at new projects. 

 

Lastly, I'd like to thank James for giving me this opportunity 5 years ago! Here's to the next 5! 

 

Man holding up a beer saying Cheers

Steven

Published: 06/12/2020 Published by: WJPS

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