Disha's Experience
Group Managers, Project Managers ·What were the most challenging moments in developing the app?
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For me, the most challenging part of the app development was leading and contributing to this project even though I was completely new to R Shiny. I initially struggled with understanding how to use "input$..."s to actually make buttons, sliders, etc.. After getting better aquainted with R Shiny, my next big challenge was actually implementing the transcriptomics pipeline into the R Shiny app, developing ways for users to get to play around with different functions in a meaningful way. The specific task that I found most challenging was developing the volcano plot code because I wanted to make it so that users could adjust the log FC, but Shiny's normal slider bar doesn't accept non-linear scales; I eventually resolved this using the ShinyWidgets package.
What were some of the most enjoyable/memorable moments from the project?
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My most enjoyable moments were when tasks/the project in general began to function how I hoped. For example, after a two or so weeks of the project, working with Sam and Nikita for setting up the project's outline the initial chaos of the project began to settle as participants got a better understanding of our goal. Seeing things beginning to run smoothly was very rewarding as a project management lead. Similarly, when I got R Shiny code that I worked on for a while to work (e.g., my volcano plot), I felt overjoyed.
Were there any unique aspects of the project that you particularly enjoyed?
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I think that a great and unique aspect of the project was getting to work with colleagues of different education levels from places all over the world. I learned a lot from the more experienced members of our team and was really impressed by the code that people made because many of them supplied functions and/or arguments that I had never heard of or didn't even think of using.
What is the one thing you will take away from this experience?
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The project management and leadership skills I have built from this experience are definitely the big take-aways for me. Managing the project and sub-groups has really shown me the importance of keeping organized, planning ahead, and communication with teammates, and I hope to use the tools and methodologies I learned in this role in any future projects I work on.