SparkHero!
A two-week exercise in which Sparkbox apprentices built a vanilla JavaScript app on superhero-themed RESTful APIs.
While I co-led the Sparkbox Full Stack Apprenticeship, I took on improving and streamlining its curriculum. Apprentices needed a way to learn how to build vanilla JavaScript web applications without leaning on a UI framework. Enter SparkHero.
SparkHero challenged apprentices to build a JavaScript app on ready-to-go RESTful APIs that show off fan-favorite Marvel and DC characters. It covered everything the old ad hoc lessons on building web applications had, but in a structured way that closely mirrored the workflow of real client projects. Over the two weeks, apprentices built features like fetching data from API endpoints, sorting, and filtering.
The project comes preloaded with three RESTful API endpoints that run on either Netlify serverless functions or Express. Webpack, Jest, Sass, a full set of linters, and a custom CI/CD pipeline are included too, and the pipeline deploys to Netlify for both pull requests and code merged into the production branch.
Jordan and I co-led our Full-Stack Development Apprenticeship for several years. He picked up the programming section after a team member moved on. Jordan redesigned the curriculum; our apprentices went from haphazard lectures and a college-style syllabus to defined, project-based learning with established goals and outcomes. He organized other members of the development team to teach lessons. He even created a template repository to provide an entry point for very junior developers to build new applications on their own. He's an accomplished mentor and efficient problem-solver. He makes people better just by working with them.