We put together a few questions for our colleagues and received a variety of answers. Have fun reading!
"AI is already helping me with small, isolated problems or generating test data, for example."
When I look at the drafts or changelogs of languages and frameworks and see the benefits of the new possibilities. It also makes me happy to see well-written code from other developers and also from my apprentices.
Relatively little, because I neither shy away from elaborate refactorings nor do profound breaking changes give me a headache. I also like to explain the same things to my trainees again and again if I have to. The regular keeping of the time sheet is still the most annoying thing for me.
Turn on my computer, get coffee, open the window, check PRs, check mails/Teams, start the backend, start the frontend.
Assistance by AI. Even if complex problems and requirements within the business logic of a project cannot yet be solved satisfactorily by AI, it already helps me with small, isolated problems or when generating test data. AI also supports me in training new techniques which need to be learned.
"It's great once everything is sorted out and you as a front-end developer can immerse yourself into the code editor."
When I see code that is well structured and follows a consistent pattern. That's why it's so important to commit to a common basis when starting a project and then work according to it. Nothing is worse than everyone doing his or her own thing.
I also have a designer's heart that rejoices when I get to implement an appealing and contemporary design. Even if you have to think outside the box for one or two specifications during implementation, you're happy when you've been able to realise all ideas. And sometimes you're lucky and can even contribute a little bit of your own ideas or offer advice.
When the designer says, ‘That's exactly how it should look,’ with a smile on their face.
When I arrive at the office, I first let some lovely fresh morning air into the room and meanwhile I prepare my first cup of tea for the day in the kitchen. After checking my emails and messages, I get started with my actual tasks.
Sometimes more communication than you would expect. Be it with fellow developers, designers, project managers or POs. In most cases, a lot of coordination is required before you can start a task. However, It's great once everything is sorted out and you as a front-end developer can immerse yourself into the code editor and realise the tasks and designs that have been set.
"It happens very often just when you are doing something else, like showering, eating, cooking or whatever, that you suddenly unexpectedly have an idea how to solve some kind of problem."
When, after three hours of headaches, you reach that one point where suddenly everything makes sense. Or when I've had too much caffeine.
Pointless automated tests that are just "expect(true).toBe(true);" with extra steps. For all non-developers: this is like testing every day whether gravity still exists.
I don't know if you can call it a tick, but it happens very often that you are doing something else, like taking a shower, eating, cooking or whatever, and suddenly you have an unexpected idea how to solve some problem that you couldn't solve before.
A full desk on which only 50% of the things are necessary to work.
Put most simply: websites and app interfaces. Alternatively, you could say that we are responsible for constructing the interface between humans and machines. We help people to communicate with machines.