5 Tips To Quickly Progress As A Frontend Software Engineer

[@clem]

The documentation analogy with furniture instructions was great! And so was the entire video 😎

[@leeboyin945]

0:22 Have a clear plan or a roadmap, and stick with it 1:33 Read the documentation 3:30 Do self code reviews 4:45 Start every project with a design 6:35 Become conversational in UX design ​ I didn't expect the last one, but strongly agree that having UX mindset and being conversational about it is crucial as a frontend engineer! We're exactly the bridge connecting designers, backend engineers, and of course, users! Thanks so much for sharing these inspiring tips! (btw I came here from AlgoExpert :P)

[@dylanc4762]

This was an awesome video. Great insight. I finished learning HTML and CSS and am taking a JavaScript course now. Whenever I go through the lessons or my own labs, I always have MDN web docs open in another browser tab.

[@CaptTragedy]

Thank you for taking the time to make all these helpful videos for aspiring developers coming from someone who climbed the software dev silicon valley mountain! As a coding bootcamp grad these are very helpful. :D

[@ConnerArdman]

Glad to hear you find the videos helpful 😀

[@jgibson8092]

Thanks for sharing the advice . Its good to hear some solid detailed advice from a software engineer whos actually worked in a big tech company and know what's important . Im on a self taught Journey and videos like this are invaluable to me Thank You Conner.

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks! Glad you found it helpful 😊

[@coolibrium]

Thank you for sharing and making such great points! Always looking forward to watching your content 🙌

[@dheerajsan4591]

Very much useful 👍

[@TamNguyenDev]

Very practical tips

[@Cicciuetl]

Is Frontendexpert also useful for those who simply want to learn how to develop a site? THANKS FOR ALL (sorry if this question is not very related to the video but i did not know where to do it)!

[@ConnerArdman]

I think it just depends on where you're at, and what exactly your expectations/goals are. FrontendExpert was built as an interview prep tool, so that is its primary purpose, but we have had people use it just to just learn new skills. If you are new to programming, I honestly wouldn't recommend it. There is an assumption of some basic knowledge like functions, loops, etc. that the videos don't cover at all. If you have experience programming and just want to learn frontend, then I think FrontendExpert can be pretty useful. What I'd do is essentially follow along with the crash course videos, and after every few videos try to create some basic project using the concepts from the videos. Then at the end of the crash courses, you can use the interview questions to really test your understanding. All that said, for the pure purpose of learning frontend development, I can't claim that FE offers a ton in unique information beyond what you can find for free online. So essentially the value proposition if you aren't using it for interview prep would be the organization of information and learning from me specifically (if you enjoy my teaching style 😊). Hope that helps, best of luck!

[@swattertroops-yaaa]

how do I learn enough to contribute to frontend js/TS open source projects eg Webpack, Vue, Storybook

[@ConnerArdman]

I haven't done a ton of open source work, but I don't think it actually requires a super deep knowledge to get started. As with most things, you can learn more along the way. A great way to get your foot in the door is to look for simple fix (spelling errors, broken links in documentation, etc) and move on to bigger changes over time. Most repos on GitHub actually have a list of beginner friendly issues you can start with, just add /contribute to the repo URL. For example github.com/vuejs/vue/contribute And if you do feel like you want to learn more before trying out open source, I'd try doing a few personal projects or potentially taking a course if you prefer more structure.

[@mverma7845]

@@ConnerArdman oh thanks Conner I always wanted to do open source just never knew how I could with my current skills. I will have to look into that. Your awesome man. Thanks again PSST don't tell Clement your better than him lol.

[@mverma7845]

Every time you release a video, I watch the video and without even watching it I hit the like button. Because I know it's going to be awesome. One question though in the video you said front end engineers work closely with designers which makes sense but then you go on and say we are a bridge between the design team and the engineering team. But are we not also engineers?

[@ConnerArdman]

Yes frontend engineers are still engineers. By working more closely with the designers, frontend engineers are oftentimes going to be their primary point of contact on the engineering team and thus act as that communication bridge. That’s all I really meant there. And thanks for the kind words!

[@unknownman5296]

Nice video man

[@alirezak5870]

thank you im waiting for your next videos 😇

[@ConnerArdman]

This video is over a year old, so no need to wait lol

[@sherazdotnet]

I think a better way to review your own code is to write code using TDD (Test Driven Development). Do know that its a different way of thinking but you doing TDD makes you write code that uses your own API and you get first hand taste of how your api looks like. You'll find the frictions first hand because if your code isn't easy to test, its most likely because its not following a clear design.

[@ConnerArdman]

Yeah this is a great tip, especially for learning. It's not something I have done a lot, but I do think it can be really effective. Although I would still recommend doing self-code reviews along side test driven development, because tests can only check for correctness, while a code review can find confusing implementations and bad style as well.

[@sherazdotnet]

@@ConnerArdman Ok so there is a difference b/w tests and Test Driven Development. in TDD you write your test that drive what code needs to do. Note that you are not coving existing code for test coverage. Instead you are writing test first. So no code exists to begin with. Now you start writing test as if code did exist. Of course you are going to get compilation errors because code doesn't exist but then you start writing that code to pass the test. This we you are automatically doing the code review as you go along. I think you have to try it out to truly understand its power. Once you get the hang of it, you'd not want to go back to writing code first and then tests. Plus its a mind set. If you get a good understanding of TDD, you can take Large problems and break them into smaller chunks even without thinking too much. Its a powerful concepts but since it requires a different mindset, many devs walk away from it (just like many walk away from Recursion 🙂). Give it a go and write a few components using TDD and once you get the hang of it, you'll realize that TDD is a great way to test your own code and review and also a live documentation.

[@sherazdotnet]

@Althaf Ahd Sure. What's your question?

[@gabrielpedroza1346]

Fantastic video again Conner! Just want your feedback on this to hopefully route me in a better situation: I’m a little more than half-way done with the js course (already watched html and css) and it just feels so overwhelming to really conceptualize every point you’ve made in it. I’ve been self-teaching myself front end for about a year and half and I feel like I’m learning the intricacies from your course but might forget some parts. Any ideas on how to remember the nuances (i.e: 3rd param on event listener, some object and array prop, aria attributes, etc)

[@gabrielpedroza1346]

I want to be the best that I can, not only to get multiple internships and big tech offers, but to help others so when they ask me some css or js question, I can give the best explanation

[@ConnerArdman]

Thanks, and great question! The crash course goes into a lot of intricacies and fine details as you mentioned, but I wouldn't worry about memorizing all of it (in fact there are things in the crash course that I don't have completely memorized). You can always look up the parameters to a certain function or other small things like that, and as you use them more you will naturally start to remember more of it. But if you are trying to get more of it memorized or just better conceptualize the ideas, I think the best thing to do is learn by doing. If you're not already, following along in the "code-editor mode" and pausing between points to try it out on your own can be a great starting point. Another thing you could try would be to start some project and after every few videos try to apply any new topics from those videos to the project in some way (even if you end up with random features built just for the purpose of building them). Edit: Also if you aren't already, you can try clicking through the MDN links in the glossary terms below videos just to see the concepts in a different format.

[@daydream31]

Hello thank you for great contents !

[@xxxxxx89xxxx30]

i would say... skim the documentation ;) but great analogy :D

[@adsgkljadsfjad]

What are the chances of getting hired as a Front-End developer at big tech companies.

[@islombekdev]

Thanks a lot!

[@asibulalam5777]

Thanks

[@yusufs_solos]

Thanks alor Sir

[@zathkal4004]

Thanks Conner (: Please let me know if you need any interns/frontend devs

[@ajinkyajoshi1244]

Hey Conner ! Is React Coming on Front-End Expert ? Really Exciting For That

[@ConnerArdman]

Coming soon 😎

[@AtomicBl453]

If the design team doesn't show up with a visual representation of what they want implemented in all of its glory I'm not hearing them out.

[@ConnerArdman]

I wish this could be the case, but I don't think I've ever had a team where we had enough designers to do this. The teams I've worked on have usually had 1 designer for every 5-10 engineers, and they were stretched way to thin to fully support every project. This might not be the case at every team/company though, hard for me to know. I actually kind of enjoyed this though, because it gave me extra room to make product decisions and learn more about UX design (which I have always found really interesting).

[@piedepew]

good video

[@defres15]

Camera is too close in this video. We dont see all your gestures. Good content tho.

[@ConnerArdman]

Glad you liked the content, and thanks for the feedback! Much appreciated 😊

[@cmdv42]

💯✨

[@elg281]

Act like i dont know how to do it. Check.