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Jumping onto Mendix!
What is Mendix?
Mendix is an integrated app platform as a service offering to design, develop, deploy and both run and manage enterprise applications. Mendix is built to bring IT and business together on one platform to enable rapid, iterative and collaborative development.
Who am I and what do I know?
I studied Computer Games development at the University of Worcester where I honed my skills in C#, Java, SQL, and creating the occasional game with the Xbox Kinect. I then started work at AuraQ where I was introduced to a wide variety of BPM tools and worked on several great projects. BPM was ideal for me, as more of a visual developer I could use the framework provided to construct some complex workflows rapidly.
The BPM tools that I was used to were ones where the framework allowed you to do a certain amount of visual development. This was great to help bridge the gap between the business and IT, but it was still a case of us and them.
Then, I was introduced to the world of Mendix!
Mendix suited me from the start. I was never your typical hardcore programmer, for me it was always about the end customer and making sure that they are getting the most value from the solution. So, the less time I could spend writing code and the more time I could be interacting with the business the better. The way Mendix is set up is focused on engaging the customers, empowering employees and improving business operations. And with close collaboration between business and IT to design apps the end result is a product that is fit for purpose.
I was already familiar with the concept of data modeling and workflow structures, so getting to grips with the basics of the platform wasn’t too horrible. I also completed the Mendix Business Engineer certification and with the help of the exceptionally useful community forum and documentation this helped me on my way to my first project.
With Mendix you bring the business and IT together from the start. Mendix is built around the Agile development methodology which is helped by its inbuilt Sprintr. This allows all users (product owner, BAs, testers and developers) to use one shared space of communication which really helps with IT/business collaboration. Writing user stories is a simpler way of capturing requirements that can be understood by business users and developers alike, rather than pages and pages of documentation you would get in a waterfall methodology. The user stories are tightly integrated into the Mendix Business Modeler (the development platform), which means that developers can handle the status of the user story that they are working on and once they are done they can upload to the team server.
As AuraQ are one of Mendix’s main UK partners it wasn’t long until I undertook my first project where we were tasked with making a mobile life insurance app. For this, myself, a fellow developer and a few business users worked closely together and within 6 weeks had a fully functionally product ready to go to market. For me, mobile app development wasn’t something I was used to but as Mendix uses the Bootstrap UI framework, this makes it possible to make a responsive modern feeling app.
The biggest difference I noticed between other BPM tools and Mendix that increased the speed of development was the Mendix App Store. The App Store is a public marketplace for apps and application building blocks. Mendix and other partners can publish apps to the App Store which developers can add into their work as widgets.
If you would like to learn more about Mendix, how it might benefit your business or even if you wanted to have a go at making your first app in Mendix, feel free to browse some of the links below. Alternatively, you can contact us and we will be happy to have a discussion to see if Mendix is a good fit for you.
https://www.mendix.com/mendix-world
https://www.mendix.com/application-platform-as-a-service/resources
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