The Story So Far

Introduction

The project, Melbur Studios, is a website where individuals and businesses can outsource their software, design and branding work for the betterment of their businesses. I worked on this project solo, meaning I was the only member involved and I undertook all role. As an engineering problem, I wanted to focus on developing a platform where businesses and individuals can describe something missing in their daily operations and we will be able to supply it. For instance, a business in the retail industry, can reach out to Melbur Studios for the development of a point of sale system, or an inventory management system.

Back Story

Back in 2011, I was invited by an individual to be a temp on his young business as he undertook some other project on the side. I was very fresh from high school and had little experience in the information and technology world. However, I had always aspired to work in that world since being first introduced to a computer back in 2003 at the age of 11. This individual who invited me, happened to be a young father and I really envied him and his journey and hoped to be like him. As a result, when I was able to, I registered a company and named it Melbur, in honour of this gentleman.

Over the years, I tried to learn a thing or two about the information technology world, including repairing computers, networking, social media marketing, graphic designing, coding, web development and most recently, software development. I also blew up my skills and became a freelancer in this field. However, the COVID-9 Pandemic hit us hard and it was difficult to sell such services to people on a face-to-face basis as I had done in previous years. Although I had the capability of doing all this online, and I had done so, it was still difficult to find clients who need such services in Kenya, until COVID taught us to stay at home and work online.

Melbur Studios was therefore reborn and the work became doing such projects and delivering them online before the lockdowns were lifted. It also gave me the opportunity to improve my skills and join classes such as ALXSE. This project, on the one end, is a continuation of something that exists in real life. On the other end, it signals yet another rebirth, since it is now being developed using skills gained at ALX. It will now be improved based on the knowledge gained over this past year, and will also be impacted by how I have come to understand the needs of businesses since the lockdowns were lifted about two years ago.

Summary of the Project

Under Melbur Studios, an individual will log in to their account or sign up for one, input their details and give a description of what they need for themselves or their business. For instance, if a retail shop wants a program that can serve both as an inventory and point of sale, we can develop an all-in-one software for such applications. It will also be locked in such a way that only the person in charge of inventory can add or edit the items in their catalogue. Those whose task is to make the actual sales, cannot edit the inventory and neither can those in the store be able to make sales. There will also be a superadmin who can view all inventory and sales, as well as manage the staff, their salaries and commissions. In such a scenario, the business owner will not have to worry about their sales, their stock or flow of money in and out of the business.

For the frontend, I used HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript without any additional frameworks. I chose to use no additional frameworks because the project did not call for any additional frameworks at this time. Additionally, I wanted to dedicate my time into solidifying my understanding of these three frameworks. This website is fully responsive and is compatible with mobile, meaning any user can access it from any device, whether their computer, tablet or smartphone.

Technical Challenges

The most difficult task was hosting the project. At the beginning of the project, I had stated that I would use AWS hosting because I was familiar with it. This project was an eye-opener because in the end, I did not use AWS hosting. Instead, I used GitHub Pages and Netlify. In addition to being easy to use and less complicated than AWS, they were able to convert my HTML, CSS and JavaScript project into a fully working website with a lot of ease. Not only was it mentally tiring, but it was also time-consuming trying to have such a platform work on a different hosting platform

Lessons Learned

The greatest lesson I have learned with this project is that even with all the knowledge I had prior to undertaking it, each day I will have to learn something new. For instance, I was used to hosting such websites on shared hosting platforms. This was easier and did not involve a lot of technicalities. However, over the course of the last one year, I had to learn to do this in a different way, meaning I had to use AWS hosting. However, this project showed me an even better way of doing so, GitHub Pages and Netlify. At the beginning of the project, I said I will use AWS hosting because of familiarity but in the end, I did not use it to host this project. If I was to work on such a project again, the main thing I would work on is the hosting because I am conversant with the coding and editing the code. However, hosting a website is the biggest test because some hosting platforms may end up using a lot of your time in trying to have them work yet there are others curated exactly for your code or project.

The biggest lesson for me as an engineer is to always choose the ideal platform and frameworks to use for each project since not all projects will come alive as this one did. Others may be less challenging while others may be even more hectic to work on, meaning they will require additional input with regards to the platforms and frameworks used.

I do not have many beliefs that have been questioned over the course of this project, well except for maybe two: One is that Notepad on Windows is actually a very powerful tool and can be used to do a lot other than just taking simple notes. Yes, Notepad can be used to code, open complex files and even help you become a good coder. At the same time, I still believe Visual Studio Code is the most powerful tool in that regard and I am sure this will be demystified soon enough Two is that HTML is actually a programming language, unlike what most people either believe or joke about. HTML is such a powerful tool and most websites would not exist were it not or HTML. When paired with CSS and JavaScript, the options are endless and a lot can be done with these three frameworks.

About Me