August 2017 Summaries

CircleCI 2.0 introduced significant advancements in continuous integration and delivery, including a new configuration file format, an emphasis on Docker images, and the ability to build locally via the CircleCI CLI. This post focuses on the CLI's validation feature, which addresses the common issue of builds failing due to minor errors in configuration files. By running the `circleci config validate -c .circleci/config.yml` command, developers can validate their configuration locally before committing changes, thus avoiding repetitive fix, commit, push, and fail cycles. The process can be further streamlined by using a Git pre-commit hook to automate the validation, ensuring the configuration file works as expected before every commit, preventing invalid configurations from being pushed to the repository.

Jacque, a Computer Science major at UC Berkeley and a summer 2017 intern at CircleCI, shares her journey into tech from Compton, California, where coding was initially unfamiliar to her. Initially pursuing Chemical Engineering, she shifted to Computer Science to combine her passion for STEM and social good, inspired by organizations like Code the Change and Code2040. As a Code2040 Fellow, she chose CircleCI for its mission of building impactful software and its supportive, collaborative culture. Her internship at CircleCI, under the guidance of mentors like Hannah Henderson and Justin Cowperthwaite, offered her opportunities to explore both frontend and backend development, fostering an environment of learning and inclusivity. Jacque highlights the importance of CircleCI's culture, where every engineer's voice matters, and expresses gratitude for the encouragement and growth she experienced during her internship.

The narrative recounts the author's challenging journey into the tech industry, highlighting the systemic biases and barriers they faced coming from an underrepresented background in East Baltimore. The author contrasts their experience with the typical Silicon Valley narrative, emphasizing that true diversity extends beyond surface-level diversity to include a range of experiences and backgrounds. Despite initial difficulties with the traditional technical interview process, which they found impersonal and focused on academic-style questions, the author eventually found a supportive and respectful work environment at CircleCI. Here, they appreciated a culture that values skills and passion over prestigious credentials, fostering personal growth and teamwork among employees from diverse backgrounds. The author underscores the importance of trust, loyalty, and honesty, values from their community, as key elements in building a strong, collaborative team that is more focused on achieving goals than on individual accolades.