Meet Move: Michael, Frontend Lead

'I believe in creating an environment where everyone feels challenged to grow and contribute to technical excellence.'

Michael Schilling in the office at Move - becoming Framna in Zwolle

Published

January

2025

Written by

Frontend Lead Michael studied Electrical Engineering at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and Information Technology at the University of Twente. After his studies, he developed complex web applications in .NET for the oil and gas industry as a Full-stack Developer. In 2015, he made his move to Move Agency to apply his knowledge and experience to projects closer to the daily user. As one of the first Frontend Developers within a (back then) app-focused agency, he laid the foundations for Move's Frontend department. 'The ability to build a team and set technical standards was an important motivation for me.'

What technologies or frameworks do you prefer to use and why?

'In Zwolle, we mainly work with Angular for projects at larger organizations. It is a robust framework that proves itself well for complex applications such as the Rabo Smart Pay dashboard. What I appreciate about Angular is the opinionated structure and the extensive tooling it offers for teams. As a Frontend Lead, this enables me to build consistent and maintainable architectures. At Move, we always choose the best tools for the job, with an eye for both technical excellence and team efficiency. We continuously optimize our workflow, from modern design systems to automated package management with Dependabot.

As an internship supervisor, I find it important to work with students to create projects that combine their interests with new technological developments. As a result, we experiment early with emerging web technologies, from Progressive Web Apps to modern frameworks and native web capabilities. Thus, students work on challenging projects, which then provides us with valuable insights into new technologies. Although I personally have a lot of experience with Angular, I strongly believe that the framework is secondary to good architecture principles and teamwork. At Move, as a Frontend Lead, you get the freedom and responsibility to make those decisions together with your team. It's ultimately about making the right technical choices for the project, the partner and the team.'

Can you talk a little about your most challenging project and what you learned from it?

'As Frontend Lead, I am responsible for both the technical architecture and managing the development team. The most challenging project I worked on was migrating a large AngularJS legacy codebase to the latest version of Angular - a complex journey that required strategic planning, technical expertise and strong team coordination. The biggest lesson? Large-scale projects go beyond technology. Collaborating with the customer, listening to their needs and moving flexibly with their expectations make all the difference.'

Which project are you most proud of and why?

'One project I am particularly proud of is the Rabo Smart Pay dashboard. Over nine years ago, I started working with a colleague on what was then still called 'Rabo OmniKassa'. It has since grown into a complete platform that allows merchants to manage their payment options. I am proud of how the team has grown and taken ownership. My role is to give direction and monitor our technical vision. We pay a lot of attention to automation (such as our deployment pipelines) and code quality checks. Our focus on developer experience and code quality translates directly to value for the end user: faster releases, fewer bugs and a more stable application. We are responsible for all merchant-facing parts of the platform, where the technical decisions we make as a team directly impact thousands of users. It is precisely that combination of technical challenge, team development and direct impact on users that makes this project so valuable.'

How do you see the future of Frontend Development in general and what trends or developments excite you?

'I have always been fascinated by the evolution of the Web platform and the possibilities it offers. Modern browsers offer increasingly powerful functionality, similar to what was previously only possible in native apps. By experimenting early with technologies like Google Assistant and the Firebase stack, we learned the importance of exploring new platforms, but also of making informed choices in what we actually apply in production. This experience now helps us evaluate new trends and technologies.

An important trend is the integration of AI into our development process. During my recent visit to GitHub Universe (San Francisco, USA), I explored the potential of GitHub Copilot for improving our development workflow. In addition, I am very curious about the potential of browser-native AI implementations. For example, consider a smart FAQ system that can answer questions directly in the browser. These kinds of innovations show that we are only at the beginning of what is possible with modern Frontend Development.'

What do you think is important in a work culture to excel as a Developer?

'A culture where experimentation and learning is encouraged is essential. At Move, we have that space, which manifests itself in hackathons and exploration days to experiment with new technologies. Move is a place where everyone learns from each other and continues to develop. I encourage team members to tackle their own challenges. A concrete example of this is the 'Tech Alignment' that I organize every sprint within the Rabo Smart Pay team. In this we openly discuss technical challenges and test new concepts. This is more than a standard consultation - it's our way of cultivating continuous improvement and knowledge sharing. The combination of freedom and support, along with the opportunity to gain knowledge through events like GitHub Universe or Joy of Coding conference, allows you to continuously develop. As a Frontend Lead at Move, you get the space to shape not only your own growth, but also that of your team.'

If you could improve or change one thing about the world of Frontend Development, what would it be?

'I would like to shift the focus from specific frameworks to the fundamental principles of good software design. Too often I see developers blinded to the latest trends, while the basics are sometimes under-explored. It's great to explore new technologies, but ultimately it's about choosing the right tools to solve customer problems.'

Interested in working at Move as a Frontend Developer? Check out the vacancy (location Amsterdam).