Hack Shack

As a full-stack developer, I’m always looking for ways to more easily build out applications. In my exploration, I came across the HPE Developer web portal (aka, the HPE DEV site). One of the first things that caught my eye was the variety of different platforms that HPE offers and supports, many of which are open source. One platform in particular, Grommet, really piqued my interest.

As described on the site, the open source project Grommet helps you create responsive and accessible mobile-first projects for the web with an easy-to-use, React-based component library that is part design system and part development framework. While reading the Grommet page on the HPE DEV site, I discovered the HPE Design System, which helps web developers offer their website visitors with an improved user experience. The HPE Design System shows how Grommet can be themed and used to build user interfaces for your own brand. From what I understand, the HPE Design System is actually being used within HPE to guide the design of the user interfaces that HPE creates.

Moseying on over to the Hack Shack

Also, on the HPE DEV Grommet platform page, I discovered that there are a number of in-depth, hands-on technical workshops that I can take, which are found over in the HPE DEV Hack Shack. In the Workshops-on-Demand library, I found an awesome course entitled Streamline app development with open source Grommet. When I clicked on the Learn More button, I found a video replay of the course, which looked really interesting, so I decided to register for it. It didn’t cost me anything, and I actually found that there were real, live people at the other end of the Slack channel supporting it who were happy to help me with any questions I had. That, in and of itself, was really cool because, being developers like me, we had a lot of things to talk about! Grommet has a Slack channel as well, which is highly active. Folks are making contributions there all the time.

But I digress… back to the Hack Shack. In my meanderings about the Hack Shack, I found that there was a ton of other information there, too. The Workshops-on-Demand cover a broad range of topics of interest to all developers: API 101, Python, Kubernetes, Redfish, Rust, Git, etc. While taking my Grommet workshop, I noticed a couple of other workshops that I’m interested in taking. The ones that caught my eye are the courses on technology basics – the 101 level – especially the workshops on Kubernetes 101 and HPE Ezmeral Data Fabric 101. I’ve heard a lot about HPE Ezmeral and I am curious to learn more.

What really got me, though, was the Arcade where they house the Hack Shack Attack! retro video game and offer stickers and wallpaper you can use on your own computer. It’s a really cool place, and I have to admit I spent some time trying to tackle the IT Monster.

Back to the HPE DEV portal

While my initial path took me over to all things Grommet, I wondered what else I might find on the HPE DEV portal, so I headed back there. On the Grommet platform page, I was impressed to find so many blog articles on Grommet. I found Using Grommet with Gatsby to be very helpful with setting up a situation where I wanted to convert a website from a create-react-app to Gatsby. After reading that one, I decided to go over to the HPE DEV blog and see what else they had. Like the Workshops-on-Demand, the blog site covers a variety of different topics. It even had a blog post on another HPE DEV offering, the Munch & Learn technical talks. From what I understand, the Munch & Learn sessions bring in industry experts to talk on different subjects. You can view some of the replays of these sessions on that page and register for upcoming sessions. I’m hoping they’ll have a session on Grommet soon.

After spending some time exploring the HPE DEV portal, I decided to sign up for the HPE DEV Monthly Newsletter. Taking a look at their archive, I found that these newsletters highlighted some of the more interesting blogs and tutorials that were published in a given month. I figured this was the easiest way for me to stay up to date. Still, I do find that I come back to the portal often to see if I’m missing out on anything new. I also found that I could follow what’s happening on the site by following HPE DEV on Twitter. I hear that sometimes HPE DEV will host coding challenges in the Hack Shack. I figured this was probably the best way to stay in touch and get any alerts on upcoming challenges. Those could be fun!

Something else I found rather fun was actually getting this article published on their blog! I found this one post on the blog called Be an HPE DEV blogger! I wasn’t sure if writing a post as simple as this would be something they’d find valuable, but when I checked in with the editor, I found that they were very welcoming and eager to help me get published. Who knows? I may write more posts in the future.

I hope my journey has inspired you to see what you can find on the HPE Developer Portal. There’s a ton more there that I haven’t even touched on because I was so focused on learning more about Grommet. Maybe your interests lie elsewhere. Maybe you need access to a platform-specific API or SDK. In any case, you’re sure to find something interesting. Check it out!