Position: Project Trainee

Jun 2019 - Jul 2019

Tech Stack: Angular 8, TypeScript, HTML 5, CSS 3, MySQL, Apache Cordova

Problem

Mastek was using an internal help-desk application for their employees to log trouble tickets. This help-desk application was Desktop app and was quite cumbersome and difficult to use. Moreover, in certain situations, such as malfunctioning of keyboard or mouse, it became extremely difficult to raise a ticket. Employees had to log in to their PCs every time to view the ticket status.

Goal

To improve the overall user experience of Mastek’s internal help-desk application.

Process

As a Project Trainee, my job was to develop a mobile app counterpart of the internal help-desk application.

1. Understanding Mastek’s internal APIs and database schema
   
   The first step was to understand the API endpoints, their respective request and response payloads. I also had to understand how data was organized in their databases as not all data was available through APIs.

2. Understanding employees’ pain points
   
   Although I was briefly described the requirements and outcomes of this project, I sought feedback from the employees about the help-desk application. This allowed me to understand and focus the critical pain points.

3. Building the front-end
   
   I used Angular 8, TypeScript, HTML, and CSS to develop the front-end for the application.

4. Integrating front-end and back-end
   
   Once the front end was ready, I integrated the front-end with the back-end REST APIs. In some cases where the data was available in the APIs, I queried the database directly to fetch the required data.

5. Converting the Angular app into a mobile app using Apache Cordova Finally, I used Apache Cordova to convert the app built using Angular into a mobile app. Any feedback from the employees were incorporated too.

What I learned

Although the internship period was just a month, I learned a lot during this time. This internship was my first experience of working in a professional setting, and it was quite fun!

Within a month, I learned -

• the basics of Angular 8 and TypeScript
• what JSON web tokens (JWT) are and how they are used for authentication purposes
• about REST APIs and how to use tools like Postman

It also helped me -

• learn about Agile methodology and follow Scrum framework during this internship
• develop my communication and collaboration skills while working in a team
• understand how the front-end and back-end teams collaborate