My Skyrocket chapter
This is one of those posts that actually takes me time to write, and I don’t want it to sound like a basic corporate marketing post; it really isn’t.
Today, I’m moving on from my position as a Full-Stack Developer at Skyrocket Digital. A position that I held for almost four and a half years, and that marks a huge part of my life and growth.
I thought about a lot of things I could say about the company for this day, but in the end, all I want is to write this as a thank you and as a reflection.
Skyrocket wasn’t just another job. It was a whole chapter for me, one where I grew a lot as a developer, a professional, and as a person. And when something shapes you the way this amazing group of people did to me, you can’t just leave. You at least take a moment to appreciate it, it just feels like the right thing to do.
When I joined, I was one version of me… and I’m leaving as another
If I had to describe what changed, I honestly wouldn’t know where to begin. So I’ll try to paint the picture.
Back in 2020, when the pandemic hit, and everyone got held in captivity within their houses, I was working nonstop, but I wasn’t particularly content with my achievements thus far. I decided to send my information to a lot of companies around North America, in the hope to find some project that would help me grow professionally. It really wasn’t easy; it took me months to get the first couple of people to reach back to me regarding my options as a contractor.
Now, back then, I was really familiar with impostor syndrome (don’t take me wrong, I still get it fairly often). I’ve been a programmer for over 7 years at the time, and I felt stuck, I didn’t think my resume really stood out. But still, Someone took the chance and gave me the opportunity. I took a leap of faith and left my position at the time to become a contractor for an agency that needed a full stack dev. Skyrocket Digital was the name of the agency.
Gotta be honest, at the beginning, I knew nothing about how a marketing agency works, but I knew how to make a website regardless of the platform or language, so we made it work. But I was completely unaware of how much was about change in the coming years.
The big change
One of the biggest changes in my life happened just a couple of months shy of two years from my working for Skyrocket as a contractor. I got a call from the CEO, and I thought to myself, well, that’s it, it has been a good run. Boy, was I wrong.
They liked my work, wanted someone in-house to take over some of the work that has been around lately, and asked me if I would be willing to relocate to Canada to become their full-time software developer.
Not gonna lie, I didn’t even hesitate and went straight to say YES! I was just overjoyed about it! And with good reason, if you have been reading my blog for a while, you should already know that one of my goals in life was to be able to move to Canada and make a living here.
This opportunity alone marked a total change in my life. I picked up my stuff and moved to Canada with my wife.
For anyone else out there who has taken their chance and moved abroad, you know what I mean when I say it is a long road to take, but it is more than definitely worth taking.
Now, I can’t say the work was always a walk in the park; just like any gig, it has its ups and downs. I can confidently say that I learned how to operate at a higher level than I was used to.
I learned what it means to deliver work that survives (many) real users, that working with clients comes with a variety of deadlines, and stakes. I learned how to move faster without creating chaos (though I have to admit I made a mess a couple of times). I learned how to collaborate better, communicate better, and take responsibility for outcomes, not just individual tasks.
I got to own full processes, set best practices, and what I’m most grateful of, I got to work with such incredibly talented people! both from the internal team, the client's side, and our contractor network. I believe that after being in places where I’d built 2-3 products per year, to work at a place where I personally delivered over 27 projects across four and a half years is nothing short of a huge jump.
I have learned a lot at Skyrocket; it has been quite a ride, for having me, for helping me grow, and for pushing me to be better. I can truly only say thank you.
What I learned as a developer
At some point, you stop romanticizing what perfect code should be and start respecting a reliable delivery; though there is people that can certainly make both happen (looking at you Matt).
Skyrocket made me sharper at building things that don’t just work today, but can, and will be maintained months, even years ahead by someone who isn’t you. Things that won’t fall over the moment a client wants to make changes. Things that don’t break the second a browser updates or a third-party script decides to be weird.
Over time you learn that the best developers aren’t really the ones who write the most sophisticated pieces of code, they’re more often the ones who ship something reliable, and easy to evolve, with fallbacks in case something goes wrong, they know at some point it probably will.
I’ve been building software for a while now, and one thing that shocked me when I started here is that agency work will humble you whenever you think you finally got the gists of it.
You will always be building within some sort of constraints, a new client needs things quickly so the timeline is quite short. The budget won’t allow for fancy third parties so we need to figure out another way. And of course my favourite… “this needs to be editable by a non-technical team”
Don’t take me wrong, this constraints don’t make the job bad, they just make it feel real. Every step, every decision, every comment will have an effect on the work. This is a type of job that forces you to become creative, to choose your battles wisely and what’s most important, you learn to make the calls that are better for the team and the client, not for your own gain.
You become full-stack in a different way
I used to think that being a Full-Stack Developer was simply I can do back-end and front-end. Boy was I wrong, here I learned that being a full stack really means much much more.
Can the client understand the infrastructure so they can stand for themselves in the future? Is the code manageable? is the documentation up to date? are things in a clean repo with proper setup instructions?
All of the above are things that a full stack dev should make sure of, but an Agency Full Stack Dev? you need to make sure of all that plus how does every change impact on SEO? are the analytics capturing the marketing needs of the client? is the CMS experience friendly for a non-technical team? how fast can you diagnose an issue when it occurs?
Simplifying will always win on this job, making sure things are digestible and maintainable for the future, it is a full mindset which I’m glad to say I’ll carry with me forever.
What I learned as a professional
Ownership is not a buzzword
I know, I know, title sounds ai generated, but let’s be real “taking ownership” does feel like a buzzword nowadays but I did learned that doing so doesn’t only mean to “take initiative.”
It means knowing what may be a problem in the future before it even arises, like raising the fact that in some cases using a specific third party will vendor-lock the client and make sure they understand and are okay with that. It means generating a solution that is easy to understand and to document.
Owning a project means that if I am to hand the project off to someone else, there is a proper documentation handoff and understanding of the task at hand. Is being fully transparent over the tradeoffs that a decision will have and more than anything it means to care about what happens after a project is launched.
Owning a project is a full journey not only a task at hand.
Communication is a technical skill
Over the years I’ve learned that your value isn’t only what you build. It’s also how you make the people around you more effective. The better I got at communicating, the better my work got, I took multiple UI/UX and Analytics courses in order to be able to communicate with my team, to make sure we were all in the same boat, to show I care, not only for what I have to ship but for what we build as a team.
Communication, wether it is with your peers or with a client is not just giving updates, but explaining them. It implies saying what IS possible, what things may be at risk, or expensive sometimes, it means talking about the decision being taken and the reasons behind.
Because the truth is, most problems you can find throughout the lifespan of a project isn’t caused by code or by a technical problem, it’s caused by misalignment.
Mo, Skyrocket’s CEO would always say it, when you are speaking with someone you need to be crystal clear because communication is what makes and breaks a client’s trust. I’m convinced that Skyrocket taught me how to reduce that friction.
What I learned as a person
This one is the most meaningful, for me at least.
I learned to trust my ability to figure things out. I’ve always considered myself a problem solver but over the years I’ve learned to stay humble, because in agency life, something will always happen that reminds you the internet is chaos and software is never “done.”
There’s a kind of calm confidence that comes from being tested over and over and realizing you can handle it. Is interesting how after a while, no matter what happens you know you’ll figure it out.
People matter more than tools
Tools change. Stacks change. Trends change. Everything changes with enough time.
But the people you build with, the community you’re in, and how you treat each other under pressure… that’s the part you remember, I don’t think anyone I’ve worked with will let me lie to this but my team will always be the most important part of the work.
It’s about the culture, and that was definitely something I always liked at Skyrocket.
The work I’m proud of
I won’t list every project, but there are a few that I’ll always be proud to have been part of. Not because they were perfect, but because they taught me something and they mattered for me.
Whale Report Alert System (OceanWise)
The WRAS project stands out because it’s the type of work that reminds you software can have real impact outside of screens.
Building tools that support conservation and help reduce whale collisions is the kind of thing you don’t forget. It has a purpose, and it made me proud to contribute in a way that actually helps something bigger than the project itself.
Red Rhino rebrand build
This was a great example of bridging design, marketing goals, and technical skills to the play.
A rebrand is never just visuals. It’s UX, performance, integrations, and making sure the new site feels confident. It’s also making sure the team that inherits it can actually maintain it.
CarSimple Website and Integrations
Now this one has a special place in my heart, I worked with the team from day 0, and maintained the site till my last day. It was always rewarding to get the new updates on it and the CarSimple team was more than definitely the type of client I’d be happy to work with every single time!
And of course, this one!
It is kind of an inside joke that our brand was always on the move, I was part of building at least 3 brand iterations over the years until we finally landed here.
And this one actually deserves a shot out to Jen for making the latest branding for Skyrocket happening and for working together to get this beautiful site up!
And everything in between
From banking to ecomm to education to automotive… Skyrocket’s work threw me into a variety of problems fast.
I learn to adapt to the work, to ask better questions, to build solutions that fit the client instead of forcing the client to fit your preferred stack.
And you learn to do it with consistency.
The part I’m most grateful for: the people
Over the years I had the amazing opportunity to work with such incredibly smart people, and I learned tons because of every single one of them. I’m sure without their support and without being around them I would not have gotten half of what I’ve learned in the past 4 years.
I won’t be calling you guys by name, you know who you are so to everyone from the marketing team I’ve worked with, thanks for your patience to show me how important and useful analytics can be and how different phrases can completely change the way a product looks to the public.
To the client managers, you guys are the GOAT! I see how much y’all put together on the daily bases, thanks for helping me develop my communication skills solely by example, and for the patience every time we had to share updates.
For the production team, designers, project owners, and developers. y’all were with me through it all and then some, we pushed each other, learned from each other, and what I value the most, we were there for each other. Every single time.
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And for our leadership, you guys deal with every bit, the good, the bad, and the worst without complaining. I thank you guys especially for every opportunity to grow and to develop a new skill, for your trust and for the friendship we’ve built over time.
For the current team and all of the alumni from Skyrocket who I’ve meet over the years, thanks for helping me be better.
What’s next?
Today I’m leaving pursuing new challenges, as grateful as I am with Skyrocket It is time for me to move on. Skyrocket helped me grow so much, and some times growth means knowing when a chapter of your life is completed.
Today I’m excited for what’s coming.
I’m going to keep building, keep learning, keep writing, and keep shipping projects I’m proud of. Same values, same curiosity, just a new environment and new challenges.
And I’m still going to cheer for Skyrocket from the sidelines. This place helped shape me, and I want nothing but success for the team and the company.
Goodbye, old friend
That’s the post.
Thank you, Skyrocket Digital. For the pressure that made me better, the trust that made me grow, and the people that made the work meaningful.
Leaving is bittersweet, but I’m leaving grateful and feeling capable of whatever life tosses my way.
See you around.
