Day one at Ridgeline

By the end of this step you'll know the company you've joined, your first task, and you'll have its three files open.

You've just joined Ridgeline Outdoor Co., an online camping and hiking gear shop. About 40 people, spread across time zones. Your title is "our developer".

The ops director (your main contact: the person who runs day-to-day operations) gives you a laptop, a Slack login and a welcome pack, then says:

"Honestly, we're not sure what we need. Everything's held together with spreadsheets and goodwill. First question: what data do we even have?"

What you know so far:

• Two shops online: the main store for the public, and a wholesale portal where outdoor shops and guide companies buy in bulk.
• Basecamp Rentals: a gear-rental business Ridgeline bought last year. It has its own booking site, and its founder still answers every customer email personally.
• Behind them: a helpdesk for support, accounting software, two ad platforms, freight companies for big deliveries, a returns app, a data warehouse, and Slack.

Nobody has the full picture. Not even the ops director. That's your first job.

Get the three files

Download all three into one folder (your Downloads folder is fine):

Already set up the starter kit? The same files are in its module-1 folder.

Open them

• welcome-pack.md is plain text. Open it in VS Code, or any text editor (Notepad, TextEdit). The # and | characters are Markdown: a simple way of marking headings and tables in plain text. Read it top to bottom now: it takes five minutes.
• The two .csv files are spreadsheets saved as text. Open them in a spreadsheet app:
  • Google Sheets: go to sheets.new, then File → Import → Upload, pick the file, and click Import data.
  • Excel or Numbers: double-click the file.

Your turn

From the welcome pack alone: who owns the helpdesk, and who owns the returns app? Keep the answers: they go on your map.

Show a hint (1 of 2)