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We build cool stuff with cool people.

Four ways to break into software development

At Planes, our engineering team gets to work on a huge variety of projects across a broad range of sectors, from finance and FMCG to education to beauty. With job stability and flexible working also part of the package, we think being a developer has many advantages. Plus there are a bunch of different ways to break into the industry. So how did the team at Planes start their journey to becoming devs?

By Eddie Chan — 9/8/2021 — 3 Min Read — In Development

RIP Server-Side Rendering

A deep dive into the four main approaches to rendering your Next.js website and a case for why you can probably rule out Server-Side Rendering.

By Henry Kirkness — 6/1/2021 — 5 Min Read — In Development

The Main Event: Why less is more in data analytics and event tracking

Although it can be tempting to track every possible interaction, the following guide to building an analytics specification highlights how reducing your event tracking can make for more reliable data and a more robust product.

By Ryan Lock — 5/13/2021 — 3 Min Read — In Product

The Domino Effect: Designing digital products for people, not users

As Product Managers, everything we do is led by user insights. We spend our entire careers channelling the user's voice; discovering what they want, studying how other companies are delivering on that want, and, when we finally launch our product, validating that the want remains true. But when conscious user requirements are the sole focus, it’s easy to overlook the impact of launching features beyond the metrics we’re actively tracking.

By Rachel Pandyan — 3/8/2021 — 6 Min Read — In Product

Product Managers: The secret weapon of successful digital products

The idea of a digital agency Product Manager might seem strange at first glance. Especially in a tech startup, where the founder has a clear vision of the product, and a deep understanding of the target user.

By Ryan Lock — 1/26/2021 — 4 Min Read — In Product

How to survive a Penetration Test as a GraphQL developer

Some of our favorite clients are startups — working directly with founders who want to build beautiful, user-centric apps on tight timelines and often tighter budgets.

By Henry Kirkness — 1/9/2020 — 6 Min Read — In Development

A Practical Guide to Choosing Your Next React Framework

We've started (and finished 😊) a lot of projects here at Planes, and being a team that loves to try new tools, we've gained a lot of experience in what works and what doesn't for React projects. It can often feel daunting making the choice since the most popular frameworks dictate very different approaches to setting up your projects. Hopefully, this post clears up a few of the key decision points when setting up your project.

By Henry Kirkness — 7/1/2019 — 5 Min Read — In Development

Implementing Fluid Design Using the CSS calc() Function

Design Systems make a whole load of sense for Application System UI, or simple compositions of rectangles, images, text. However, when applying this to more complex website designs or interesting consumer-facing apps, we end up with headaches. The design will break when the screen gets smaller (unless your designer has designed for every pixel screen size--unlikely), your text will need to scale between mobile and desktop and work everywhere between.

By Henry Kirkness — 6/26/2019 — 4 Min Read — In Development

From Aircraft to Apps: How Air Force Engineering helped me become a Product Manager

For anyone who spends the early part of their working life in one organisation, or a specific industry, making the move to something new can be a daunting prospect. “Will my skill-set be valued? Will it be relevant? Will I be able to ‘catch-up’?” are the questions many people who have considered making a big career change will have found themselves pondering. My semi-recent move from Air Force Engineer to Product Manager was case-in-point. Fortunately, I soon found the answers to those questions were, “Yes. Yup. Yeah, mate”.

By Ryan Lock — 4/23/2019 — 4 Min Read — In Product

A Naturally-biased, Unbiased Case for Outsourcing Product Teams

There can be a bit of stigma surrounding using an outsourced development team when launching a digital product. And although we are an outsourced development studio, having built products both as part of an internal team and an external agency, I have seen success and failures with both approaches. Of course, there are 100 ways to skin a cat but here are some things to consider when assessing if outsourcing is right for you.

By CJ Daniel-Nield — 3/28/2019 — 5 Min Read — In Development

Introducing Dashbored: Generate static dashboards using Gatsby

Based on Gatsby, Dashboredhttps://github.com/teamplanes/dashbored works to fill the void for simple, free and open-source dashboards. The goal is not to rival big names like Periscopehttps://www.periscopedata.com/ but provide an alternative for smaller outfits that don’t require the full power of those products (or the accompanying price tags).

By Willoo Koko — 3/22/2019 — 3 Min Read — In Development

Static Website Deployments on AWS Made Easy

The joy of Surge’s simplicity with the power of AWS in a single command.

By Henry Kirkness — 3/1/2018 — 4 Min Read — In Development

Building End-To-End Form Validation with Yup, graphql-shield and GraphQL

In this post I cover a relatively specific but common problem in modern web applications, form validation.

By Henry Kirkness — 2/9/2018 — 3 Min Read — In Development

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