Stepping Out of the Comfort Zone: Our Most Creative Dev Day Yet

We kicked off with our regular dev team meeting — a space we carve out every month to reflect, regroup, and get ahead of what’s coming next. This isn’t your typical "update meeting".  It’s where we challenge our assumptions, air out frustrations, spot patterns, and pitch bold ideas.  We talked through what’s working (and what’s not), tightened up some of our internal processes, and laid the groundwork for a few exciting initiatives we’ll be rolling out over the next few months. There’s always something brewing.

But the real highlight?  A mini hackathon with a twist.

We got our hands on a bunch of Raspberry Pi’s, split into teams, and set ourselves a challenge: build a lightweight alert system for our hosting servers.  The catch?  We had to use technologies and programming languages that were completely new to us.  No fallbacks. No safe bets. Just raw curiosity and teamwork.

Why put ourselves through that?  Because stepping into unfamiliar territory is where real growth happens.  It forces us to think differently, communicate more, and lean on each other’s strengths.  It was less about shipping production-ready code, and more about unlocking new ways of thinking.  Along the way, we explored edge tech, rewired our usual habits, and had a good laugh at the same time.

Was it polished?  No. Was it perfect?  Definitely not.  But it was powerful - and a genuinely rewarding team exercise.

We came away with some interesting ideas for future internal tooling, a few unexpected "aha" moments, and a deeper appreciation for what each of us brings to the table.  This wasn’t about proving technical chops - it was about growing together as a team and reminding ourselves why we love doing this in the first place.

We’ll definitely be doing more of this. Stay tuned!