The problem with Frontend Mentor

[@hairyhaggis7431]

“After a while, you realise the challenge is not how to paint, but what to paint” - Bob Ross

[@yahayaoyinkansola8258]

This is very good advice, thank you Kevin!. The idea is to do more than the initial project for it to stand out, I never taught of it this way. This is how to do it also for any project we build on the web

[@ichiroutakashima4503]

Very solid advice. Here's what I usually do. I know FrontEndMentor or iCodeThis advocates for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Things I do to up myself better than others, though I'm sure others are also doing it now, is... do the given challenges on a modern framework or something. I've done some of them using ReactJS, TailwindCSS Libraries, and even NEXTJS. For me, this alone shows your adaptability. Though that said, to be honest, very rarely people get to guru level, my maximum was at least at junior level to mid level.

[@nikkehtine]

Never heard of the other one but FM explicitly states that it doesn't matter what you use, frameworks, libraries, vanilla, what really matters is the end result

[@yassine-sa]

thing is with personal projects is not only that they’re harder, that’s not a problem for me, but that they take loads and loads of time that you probably never manage to get them to a relatively ready project that you could add to your portfolio, and if you do you’d have at most 3 projects in your portfolio that are pretty advanced, at best, so it just feels weird and not enough, that’s at best. which is why i think your proposal is great because it solves just that :)

[@macieja92]

yeah, and that's what's the most annoying in it, you must do FE, BE, DevOps, think about "design" just to do whatever, to have some stuff in your Github in this tight job market 🤦🏻‍♂you literally spend XX hours daily to come out with anything, even if you are an experienced developer 🤦🏻‍♂

[@keaton718]

But you're my frontend mentor, Kevin.

[@lucarle]

Personal projects are fantastic if you're doing them because you're genuinely interested, not just to impress potential recruiters or avoid the appearance of copying someone else's work. They shouldn't be a requirement for hiring unless deciding what to build and which features to include is part of the job. Beginner challenges, like the one used as an example, aren't meant to get you hired but to get you started on building things. You could adapt the design to make it more complex, or you could choose a challenge that already includes these complexities in the design.

[@silentsmashbros4902]

This videos timing is perfect for me. I just did a beginner level project using React & Typescript. I added functionality to the button for the sake of practice.

[@natescode]

100% also, software can be related to absolutely ANY other subject of interest. I tell my students to make a project for one of their other hobbies or interests.

[@atomikg]

This is the same reason why I got the Pro membership. You can customize the Figma design files to your liking.

[@muovikallo]

Complete the Frontend Mentor challenge then put your own twist on it as a flourish

[@JohnSmith-op7ls]

What do we build next? If you’re asking that, you should be focused on getting a job. Making widgets and trivial demo apps won’t get you anything but maybe an unpaid internship

[@keaton718]

If you've only ever built personal projects to practice on and widgets and demos, then you should ask yourself "what should I build first" because you haven't actually built anything yet.

[@xtopher960]

Please which technology did you use to reveal the codes in for moderation your illustration? I'm a beginner

[@zensukai]

That is also what I am seeing when it comes to tutorials on KZbin -- there is no originality and everyone is doing the exact same tutorial.

[@madhurchaturvedi5551]

Great video

[@relax7778]

Sir, please make tutorial on multi step form project with frontendmentor

[@sadicksulley1583]

Hello Boss please I have been trying out on how to get my challenge done but It feels like I don't know how to follow along and get things going so please I really need your help. I can't even figure how to make things gets started in my vs code editor alongside with Frontend mentor

[@prestongovender5715]

Advanced divs? 0:07

[@Cybersec_privesc]

your videos are great

[@KevinPowell]

Glad you like them!

[@OCEMTechZone]

🎉

[@dzienisz]

But why is this an issue? Isn’t a project like Frontend Mentor a form of “certification” that demonstrates your ability to build websites? Most companies just need developers who can get the job done. We often talk about finding the “best” people in the market, but what does that really mean? I believe we shouldn’t be so critical and should consider lowering our expectations. Many people are burned out from constantly trying to stand out from the crowd. We should embrace some level of mediocrity and set the bar a bit lower. Not every developer needs to be a “frontend rockstar” with an amazing portfolio.

[@dzienisz]

Frontend Developers are not designers. This is a great example of "I can implement this great design"

[@KevinPowell]

It is, but the problem is when someone is looking at 100 portfolios and they see the same project over and over again on each one. In talking with people who do hire, a lot of portfolios they look at will be very quick skins, and they stop at the ones that stand out.

[@lumiuko]

​@@KevinPowell Well, good point. But I've noticed that most people tend to solve challenges at the Newbie and Junior levels. It's rare to see someone completing a 'Guru'-level challenge.

[@Scorialimit]

​@@lumiuko last time i used it those were paid challenges. But that was at least a year and a half ago now. But if that's still true, i suspect a lot of high school/ college kids are just not ready to pay. Personally i used the lower level challenges to test how fast i could implement a design.

[@boxboxerson991]

Because he's making content. He needs there to be problems to talk about.

[@atlantic_love]

I went to the site and its "free" content aggressively pushes the "PRO (paid)" package, and that seemed to override any "teaching" that the site supposedly does. The code it shares you can most anywhere on sites that do "tutorials". "just build something" is never good advice. The conversation that should be taking place is "is there something in your own life that you feel an application could help you with?". "have you ever gone searching for an application, and just couldn't seem to find one that does what you want?".

[@sadicksulley1583]

hello please can I get a little bit knowledge about how to start this whole Frontend mentor challenges from you please

[@Divyv520]

Hey kevin, really nice video ! I was wondering if I could help you with more Quality Editing in your videos and also make a highly engaging Thumbnail and also help you with the overall youtube strategy and growth ! Pls let me know what do you think ?

[@JohannBaritono]

If they're looking for designers, then it's valid that they get put off by seeing the same projects once and again. But if they're looking for web developers, they shouldn't be interested in the design, but in the implementation. If they aren't, then i doubt their value as professionals.

[@Cybersec_privesc]

hello

[@jamesevans2507]

Phew, good thing I don't give a shit about having a portfolio to appease interviewers.

[@abdulrhmanburqaa328]

Let’s goo

[@PicSta]

Yippiieee!

[@LexTheCat]

What happened to your mic?

[@biosfearmag]

Or just build your own website from scratch?

[@nikkehtine]

The issue with putting these projects in your portfolio is that you didn't *create* the design, but instead *copied* it. Potential hiring managers have probably already seen them a bajillion times already so it's really not going to be impressive to them seeing the same thing again. What you probably want to do instead is make something truly your own, even if it is *heavily* inspired by something else as long as you make it uniquely interesting in your own way. Creativity is an integral part of software and web development.

[@chamumutezva539]

It is important to note that a designer and a frontend developer are not one and the same job - hence Frontend Mentor is interested in frontend development for those who are not designers. The Hiring managers well then, will be probably looking for a wrong person if they are measuring a frontend developer to be an exceptional designer. If it is about Frontend development the points to look at includes quality of code, code/files organisation, accessibility etc

[@jgibson8092]

@@chamumutezva539 yeah I was gonna say how do you come up with your own design if your not that good at design .

[@CirTap]

never coded a "to do" or "weather" app in my life and yet I managed to survive in this business since 1996... (I don't even know what Frontend Mentor is or does and why they should be relevant) first database coding "challenge" was the personal software fad of the days back when people had physical music media (CD, LP, tape): a music collection library 😃incl. printing the track list on cassette and CD leaflets -- so proud.

[@atlantic_love]

Your point is?

[@MatthewMichalsky]

Great vid, bad thumbnail. Looking like web dev simplified, and it’s not a compliment

[@hyperprotagonist]

Can’t stand that channel 😂

[@KevinPowell]

Fair enough! I am running 3 versions with a/b testing atm, but I think I know which one your talking about 😊