How CampLife’s Development Team Enhances Campground Management: When Code Meets Camping

January 12, 2024

Software development doesn’t typically conjure up images of families and friends gathering round the campfire. But that’s the end result when three members of the Dev Team—Chad, Jonathan, and Micah—integrate their coding expertise with their roles at CampLife. 

Let’s dive into how their individual skills harmonize to enhance the campground management experience and keep guests looking forward to booking their next trip.

Chad Halvorsen: The Insightful Innovator

When asked to name his favorite part of his job as a Senior Web Developer at CampLife, Chad Halvorsen flat out refuses.

“Why do I have to have a favorite?” Chad asked. “In this job, there are so many different touch points I find enjoyable.”

However, when pressed, Chad will admit there’s one facet of the job he really appreciates.

“There’s a great deal of satisfaction in trying to figure out how our customers—the park owners and operators—are going to interact with a new feature or a feature enhancement,” Chad explained. “And then I try to make that an enjoyable experience. I try to put myself in the customer’s shoes.”

Although Chad’s efforts might not be immediately visible to the end user, its impact is profound.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work to get some things upgraded,” Chad said. “It’s one of those things that maybe a lot of people didn’t notice or recognize, but it was a nice step from a development perspective. It gets us farther down the road to be able to do more interesting and unique things.”

Building off of Chad’s foundational work, another member of the team seizes the opportunity to forge ahead and form something new.

Jonathan Ziesmer: Bridging Innovation

Jonathan’s approach complements Chad’s by focusing on the finer details. 

“I love cleaning up code, standardizing it, and thinking through all the ways the different concepts can be abstracted and be made to work together more cleanly and efficiently,” Jonathan said. “This is with the hope that in the end it will result in a more powerful, more flexible, more intuitive product for our parks.”

One of Jonathan’s most recent developments allowed him to combine his coding skills with practical utility. The result? Some awesome additions to Events + Activities: a feature CampLife parks can use to create engaging activities for guests and manage those events all in one place. 

“It just flowed. The whole project just flowed,” Jonathan recalled. “It was fun, and I think it will be useful to our parks. It’s cool to think this is going to make someone’s life easier.”

While Chad and Jonathan have done a lot of work to make things run more smoothly for CampLife customers, another member of the Dev Team looks to provide smooth sailing for a totally different end user.

Micah Tanner: The Guest Experience Enhancer

Further along the development chain, Micah works on the guest-facing side of things, focusing on enhancing the booking experience. 

“I had been updating how our system interacts with maps, and another map-related project came up,” Micah recalled. “It turned out to be a completely different kind of project, but I got a chance to build off of what I’d already done.”

Because of Micah’s new endeavor, guests booking through CampLife.com will soon be able to see the bigger picture when it comes to mapping out new adventures.

“This update is for a customer who comes to our website and wonders what CampLife campgrounds are in a certain area and how they relate to their current location,” Micah offered. “They will be able to see that and plan things a little better.”

This initiative highlights CampLife’s commitment to improving every aspect of the camping experience, from the back-end coding to the guest’s journey.

Extending Beyond Code

It’s not just about individual projects for Chad, Jonathan, and Micah, though. They’re advocates of what they call “developer ergonomics,” a concept that ensures every line of code they write today is accessible and understandable for any developer who works on it tomorrow. 

“It’s about being kind to our future selves and anyone else who works on these projects,” Chad shared.

This philosophy extends to how campground owners interact with CampLife’s software. 

“Just as we strive for ease and clarity in our development process, we aim for the same in our user interface,” Jonathan said. 

Micah added, “We want campground owners to see our personal touch in the software’s flow and functionality.”

Join Us on the Journey 

As campground owners, you’re the reason we strive for innovation and seamless experiences. Every feature we develop at CampLife is designed with you in mind, aiming to simplify your management tasks and make booking an enjoyable experience for guests. 

Curious about how the work Chad, Jonathan, Micah, and others are doing benefits your park? Reach out today! We’d love to talk to you about how their attention to detail and innovative spirit are shaping the future of campground management with CampLife.

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