Skipr: A step into Silicon Flagey

Skipr is a Belgian company that provides a mobility platform for businesses and their employees. Their platform offers a range of services, including mobility budget management, car and bike leasing, and public transport ticketing. Skipr's goal is to simplify and optimize the mobility experience for both companies and individuals, while also promoting sustainable transportation options. They work with a variety of clients, from small businesses to large corporations, and have quickly become a leading player in the Belgian mobility industry.

As a developer, I'm always looking for exciting and challenging projects to work on, and that's exactly what I found when I joined. It was a momentous time for the company as they had just received a significant investment from ALD, and they were looking to expand their operations in Europe.

Skipr's tech team was organized into several teams, each functioning as a squad. One such team was the platform team, responsible for managing the coexistence of all active systems within Skipr. Another team was the PS team, which primarily handled customer requests and support inquiries. Lastly, there was the Build team, of which I was a member. This team was tasked with creating new features for the product.

Our team was made up of talented developers, designers, and product managers who worked closely together to bring our ideas to life. My role there was to handle the development of a new front-end platform using Next.js. It was a fantastic opportunity for me to work alongside experienced developers and to become the go-to person for front-end development. To ensure the success of the project, I collaborated closely with an external agency and our in-house designer to polish a reusable design system using Chakra UI and Formik. The goal was to make the development process more efficient while ensuring consistency across the platform.

From a technical perspective, we used a monorepo project with NX and Next.js in TypeScript. React Query was used for the data layer, which proved highly effective due to the open API backend model and signature generation with Orval.

One of the things I appreciated about Skipr was their product-first approach. We worked closely with a team of product managers who helped us prioritize development and ensure that we were creating a platform that met the needs of our users. It was a highly collaborative effort that resulted in a platform that was both functional and user-friendly.

As we developed the platform, we were able to gradually deploy it for the French market first and then for the Belgian market. This was a complex process since we had to ensure that the new platform coexisted with the older mobile and web applications. However, we were able to do so successfully, and the new platform was well-received by users.

Working at Skipr was an incredible experience, one that challenged me in all the right ways. I was able to grow as a senior front-end developer and gain valuable experience working on a high-profile project. I am incredibly grateful to the Skipr team for trusting me with this critical role and for providing me with so many opportunities to learn and develop my skills.

While I was offered the opportunity to continue my mission, the high rate of turnover made things increasingly complex and challenging. However, I understand that this is a common challenge in fast-growing startups, and I'm grateful for the skills and experience I gained in such a dynamic and challenging environment. I am a firm believer that the Skipr product is truly exceptional, and I'm thrilled to see so many great companies in Belgium and France utilizing the platform to encourage their employees to adopt greener modes of transportation.

In conclusion, my time at Skipr was an essential chapter in my career as a developer. I am proud to have been a part of such an innovative and forward-thinking company, and I look forward to taking the valuable lessons I learned at Skipr with me to future projects.