How we build software

How do we build software? Simply. Well, it’s as straightforward as it sounds, but you know that already. Let’s start with the idea of simplicity.

K.I.S.S is everything

At Significa, we write simple software. Achieving simplicity often requires more consideration and specification than complexity. Simple software allows for maintainability and usability for years with minimal upkeep. So remember: Keep it simple, stupid [hence: K.I.S.S.]. This principle is at the core of our engineering ethos and should always guide your decisions.

This page serves as a starting point; we encourage you to explore our other resources for a deeper understanding of software development at Significa.

Quality

We trust you’ve read about our commitment to never compromising on quality (point number 1 in our Playbook). That's right, we maintain high standards with our code too, and this chapter of our Handbook will help you get familiar with those standards.

A great starting point is our Development: Patterns and best practices cheat sheet. It’s our internal resource for documenting reusable snippets, best practices, and tips to help us maintain consistency while avoiding common pitfalls during development.

In short, we strive for exceptional code quality because anything less will come back to bite us you know where. You might think that moving fast—delivering MVPs and early-stage projects—means we can skimp on quality, but that’s a misconception. There’s never an advantage in cutting corners on code quality. We must always aim to improve, and being meticulous about quality is fundamental to that. For more insights on what this means for developers at Significa, head over to to Technical elements of quality.

Tech stack

We’re all about using a modern tech stack and keeping up with the latest trends (no easy feat with how fast things change!). But don’t worry—we’re not just jumping on every new tech trend. Flexibility is crucial for us, so we carefully consider the developer experience when choosing our tools. To dive deeper into what makes our tech stack unique, check out our Tech stack.

Development tools

The choice of development tools is entirely up to you—remember our principle of Maximum freedom, maximum responsibility! There are no restrictions; each person can use the tools they believe work best for them. Remember that the development environment should always be replicable, making onboarding easier for anyone joining a project. For more information, check out Software modularity, and Software environment.

Your SoT

This chapter of the Handbook should be your North Star as a Significa developer — your source of truth for how we approach development and the magic we expect you to create.

Always keep an eye on Software security and ensure you understand what's expected regarding Software documentation This applies whether you’re in Front-end development or Back-end development. Our expectations regarding Code reviews, Continuous integration and delivery, and Software versioning remain consistent.

We may not have all the answers, as simplicity can be challenging, but learning from others is a quick win. You'll often find solutions to tough questions within the Engineering community, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

There’s a lot to digest here, so take your time and revisit often. With new trends and technologies emerging frequently, we’ll keep this section of the handbook updated accordingly!