In this Meet the HPE DEV Team blog, I’d like to introduce Eric Soderberg @ericsoderberg and Shimrit (aka “Shimi”) Yacobi, members of the HPE Dev Community who are focused on Grommet. Grommet is a React-based library of reusable UI components that help developers and designers create web applications. This open source UI development and design framework simplifies the way web applications are built by providing a package of commonly used interface elements from which developers and designers can choose to use.

Eric Soderberg – Co-creator of Grommet

Awaking each morning with the hope of finding unexpected beauty is the way Eric best describes his approach to life. He is constantly seeking out the fresh, different, and creative – what he describes as the many reflections of God. He lives simply and with purpose. The one car he owns is driven mostly by his wife, while Eric bikes back and forth to work, rain or shine. An elder at his local church, Eric finds a great deal of fulfillment in his volunteer work.

As co-creator of Grommet, Eric brings this sense of beauty, simplicity, and service to his work. When customers expressed frustration at the profusion of disparate user interfaces across HPE products (a result of HPE having acquired many different companies), Eric worked closely with Chris Carlozzi @chriscarlozzi to design a user experience framework that was accessible, responsive, and simple. Seeking a neutral framework that could be broadly adopted, they started with ReactJS and developed the Grommet libraries for theming, accessibility, and modularity.

Eric encouraged developers in the different groups to use Grommet by building sample applications and showing them how easily it could be done. As a result, applications across HPE began to look more unified, and Grommet itself improved as the learnings from each interaction found its way back into the code.

Shimi Yacobi – Grommet Core Developer and Community Manager

Finding herself as the only female in the advanced computer classes in her high school, Shimi gravitated naturally towards engineering, and wound up in a career she truly loves. An outgoing and personable developer, Shimi enjoys yoga, hiking, scuba diving, and spending time with her family. She is also very involved with the community, including a local Women’s Network focused on empowering women in technology.

Shimi first encountered Grommet while she was working as a developer in the HPE Hyperconverged systems group. She is now a core developer for Grommet, as well as the Grommet Community Manager. In this latter role, she connects with developers and designers to understand their requirements and extends the Grommet framework to address their current and future needs. She also provides consulting to Grommet users on best practices and how to get things done using the framework. Shimi values the feedback provided by each contributor, as being so tuned into the community ensures that Grommet is always on the cutting edge.
To keep up to date with everything that’s going on with Grommet, make sure you connect with them on Slack. You can follow the Grommet Twitter handle or follow Eric directly on Twitter. And don’t forget to check out the HPE DEV portal to learn more about the Grommet platform.