I had the privilege to attend ng-conf at the start of March, and I had the opportunity to meet several members of the Ionic team. To be fair, I’ve had a half dozen or so video chats with some of the team members during the course of writing Ionic in Action, but I hadn’t actually met anyone in person.
I’d like to share some of the insights I gained about this amazing team and how it just enhances my respect for Ionic.
The Ionic team is wicked smart
It doesn’t take very long to realize this. This team is super smart and it shows. They had two members, Adam and Andrew, on stage at ng-conf, sharing their knowledge.
There are a lot of things about Ionic that aren’t yet ready for prime time, but they are working on clever solutions. I look at Ionic View as one such example of the team’s capabilities, and know that same intelligence is being applied to their entire ecosystem.
The Ionic team is in it for the long haul
Ionic is not just a one hit wonder. Adam’s talk at ng-conf shows that they are also very focused on the future. Ionic is not about just riding the success they have had so far, it is about establishing the future of hybrid mobile apps.
They are working with the projects they depend on (namely Angular and Cordova) to ensure the future is as at least as bright as they can imagine. This means an Ionic version 2 is already in their minds, to coincide with Angular 2. I won’t dig into the details of Angular 2 and what that means yet, but know they are not waiting for the future, they are helping to create it.
The Ionic team is community focused
There are different types of ‘open source’. Sometimes it is about a company throwing code over the wall and hoping that others will praise them. Other times it is just a project a company drives to fulfill their own needs irregardless of what the community says.
Ionic is about the community, and focuses greatly on responding to and integrating with that community. They really do agonize over input from the community.
The Ionic team is down to earth
This team is rooted in humility. I was able to share a beer with them and just enjoy talking with them on several occasions. Even with the Ionic project success, they are just a group of people. They love what they do, but at the end of the day they take off their superhero capes and spend time with friends and family.
Ionic is backed by an amazing team
I’m a firm believer in open source, and the real magic is the community and leadership behind any open source project. If you haven’t considered it before, the Ionic team itself is a major (if the the primary) reason to continue to use Ionic.