Community is a fundamental part of AppMap. Our community members and contributors span the globe, and play a key role in helping us make life better for developers. This blog series profiles members of the growing AppMap community and shares how they use AppMaps in their daily work. Enjoy getting to know everyone! For more information on the AppMap community or to join us, click here.
Noé De La Mora
On Getting Into Software Development
I’ve been into computers since I was a kid. Initially, I wanted to be a game developer because I was also really into video games. But when I got to high school, I learned that computer science was a career path that could allow me to dive deep into what I was already passionate about. So I took a Java language class, built my first computer, built my first very basic website and tried to learn everything I could.
Today, I’m an engineer at Spiceworks. I work mainly on web applications and the whole ecosystem of services that interact with each other. I primarily do backend work but enjoy taking breaks with some frontend stuff.
Right now I’m using Ruby as my primary language. Ruby’s definitely in my top 3 (along with C# and Python), but one thing that bugs me is the interchangeability between symbols and strings in Ruby, especially in Hashes. I’ve had several issues because not all Ruby Hashes support symbols!
On Personal Preferences
Spaces all the way! Either 2 or 4 spaces is fine by me.
Dark theme for life! In college, half of our lab always had the lights off, so we called it the dark side… that’s probably what made me team dark theme ❤
My favorite keyboard shortcut is for moving windows from one monitor to another (sadly, it’s only available for Windows, not Mac). I’m also constantly navigating documents in VSCode (CTRL+Tab). I tend to have 20+ tabs open at any given time and navigating spaghetti code is such a pain, so the quick back and forth or tab navigation keybind makes it a lot easier.
On Finding AppMap
I first came across AppMap in the Ruby subreddit. I was intrigued by the concept, so I tried out the AppMap VSCode extension on one of our smaller apps. I find the robust debugging capabilities of AppMap something scripting languages lack, so it makes for a really nice quality of life to have AppMap built into my Ruby environment.
In addition to debugging, I use AppMap to explore parts of code that I’m not familiar with yet. Using AppMap to record unit tests gives me a great deal of insight and understanding, and it’s a lot faster than having to manually pry into different parts of the code path.
On Community + Contributing to AppMap
I haven’t contributed yet, but if/when I get the chance, I’ll be glad to!
I’ve really enjoyed how welcoming and tight knit the AppMap community is. I know it’ll grow quickly, so I’m enjoying the small town vibe as much as I can now 😊
On Life Outside of Work
I like to play video games, go for runs in downtown Austin with my dog, watch and play soccer, and go to the gym. I also really enjoy exploring new places to dine and reviewing them on Google Maps. If you need any recommendations for where to eat or drink in Austin, hit me up – I’m a level 5 local guide!
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