Fullstack Developer
My apprenticeship year at SiteLab: from onboarding and a first CRUD app to contributing to two production projects. I worked both on the front-end (Next.js / React in TypeScript) and the back-end (NestJS with MongoDB and Prisma), while learning clean, traceable work with Git and GitLab CI.
Overview
On my first day I worked through the onboarding process, met my team and set up my development environment (WSL and the IAWs). After that I got to build my own CRUD app as a warm-up. As I grew more confident, I joined two real projects: Creative Studio and NexTrack, contributing to both front-end and back-end tasks.
What I Did
Onboarding & setup
Met the team and set up my development environment: configured WSL and the IAWs, which was pretty straightforward.
First CRUD app
Built my own CRUD app as a warm-up task; I got to pick the topic and decided to create a series library.
Creative Studio · frontend
Implemented several pages to match Figma: reworked the Projects section, built the Ratings and Team pages, and improved layout, the Ideahub modal, Reviews and the navigation bar.
Creative Studio · backend
Created MongoDB seed scripts for team members and projects (seed-team.mts, seed-projects.mts) so the database can be populated with content in a reproducible way.
NexTrack · healthcheck
Extended the healthcheck with the Prisma database status so the database health can be monitored directly.
NexTrack · audit trail
Implemented audit trail logging for user, settings and job actions, with an AuditLoggerService, an extended JWT guard and matching Prisma schema migrations.
How It Went
- Onboarding: met the team, configured WSL and the IAWs and got the development environment ready.
- CRUD app: built my own series library as a warm-up task.
- Creative Studio · frontend (March 2026): implemented the Projects, Ratings and Team pages to match Figma, plus layout, modal and navigation improvements.
- Creative Studio · backend (April 2026): created the MongoDB seed scripts along with project and team data.
- NexTrack · backend (June 2026): extended the healthcheck with the Prisma status and implemented audit trail logging.
Clear feature branches and descriptive commits kept the progress traceable across all projects.
What I Learned
At SiteLab I learned how to find my way into existing, production codebases and contribute on both the front-end and the back-end. I can build interfaces from Figma designs, create REST APIs with NestJS, and manage data through MongoDB and Prisma. It also strengthened my understanding of clean teamwork: feature branches, small descriptive commits and working with GitLab CI.