37 Tips from a Senior Frontend Developer

Glad you like them!

OLUWAPELUMI • May 8

you're welcome

i'm actually a young dev so i've been wondering how'll i get to know all of this

It definitely comes from experience (sometimes painful one 😅)

Godwin Archibong • May 9

Thanks a lot for this piece, it's so timely! I am just starting out. Delving into JS, I am comfortable with HTML and CSS. JS ain't easy, but my goal is to learn and master it before adding frameworks. The truth is that, the learning journey is a never-ending process. I sure will take these tips to heart.

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 9

Hi Godwin. I'm a fairly new dev too. I found learning JS challenging, but my big breakthrough was when I read a book called "You don't know JS yet." It's an involved read, but, if your like me, after studying the first three chapters, you should be able to write basic JS. You can download a free pdf of the book online. I hope this helps!

OMG, I read the same book @softwaredeveloping. It was an amazing breakthrough to me.
The book was even hard to read at first and I had to re-read it 😅.
That book is all you need to know!

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 10

Indeed. It's a great book.

Godwin Archibong • May 10

Thanks, I will

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 10

I hope it helps!

Super glad you like them and best of luck in your journey 🙏

Hauke T. • May 10

Hi, I either don't understand 26. or I think this is bad advice for junior Devs:

26. Work from your strengths, not your weaknesses

Stop wasting time trying to fix apparent weaknesses.

If it takes you consistently >1 hour to do a task that others at your level accomplish in <5 minutes, steer clear of that task.

Likely, investing more energy won't make you exceptional at it.

Instead, do the essentials and concentrate on maximizing your strengths. If something comes naturally to you and is valuable, do it more 🚀.

If something (that is part of your job) is a pain in the a** then you need to improve your skills there. As a junior everything can become a struggle: do you have a hard time understanding code that uses async/await? Go learn Promise. Especially as a junior something that takes a lot of time might actually be a lack of knowledge ("1. Master the fundamentals") and skills ("15. Master your dev tools 🛠️") like keyboard shortcuts, automation, advanced editing features, RegExp for Search&Replace, Refactoring Tools, ...

Once you are experienced and established enough you might be able to afford to avoid a task that is part of your job and that everybody else can do.

I find myself telling my managers "Well, I could do that task, but I have the high priority/value tasks X, Y, Z to do. I am not that familiar with this module and need to spend some time getting to know the details. Mid-Level Dev Q is able to do that task as-well and it probably takes them the same amount of time."

Oh I definitely mentioned you need to master fundamentals. Like you can’t be doing frontend and not understand async, etc..
What I mean by focus on strengths is like maybe you are not comfortable with architecting code but you are amazing at building simple UIs/animations, etc. you should focus on that vs. the first one.
Frontend development is large and you have to choose the area where you can be one of the best.
Being average doesn’t pay off😅

Hauke T. • May 10

Frontend development is large and you have to choose the area where you can be one of the best.

Somehow this gives me a bad gut-feeling. Although the field is huge, and I know that in some way I am a specialist, some part of me deeply rejects the Idea that you need to specialize.

We need to learn constantly - and just because today I am bad at creating UIs, it doesn't mean that I should refuse to learn it, when that skill becomes necessary for me tomorrow.

Let me conclude by adding to your advice: "Always keep an open Mind. After you found X is hard, you will learn Y and Z, and some of that knowledge can be applied to X. Just because something is hard for you today, It doesn't mean it has to be when you need to learn it 5 years from now."

I definitely see your point there. I will take an example to illustrate for myself. For example I am bad at coming up with UI/ thinking about the UX, etc. I put in a lot of work but no results whatsoever.
On the other hand, I am very comfortable with JavaScript, with hard problems,etc.
So I decide to rely on people better than me at UX and rely on my strengths instead.
I think we should do what makes us unique more 🙏

Bogdan B Peterson • Jun 4

this! teams don't exist for no reason, you can't do everything. yes, familiarize yourself with as much stuff as you can, even just to know it exists, but don't try to be a everything man

Ndeye Fatou Diop • Jun 4

💯 agree even if it is hard!

The Coding Mermaid 🧜‍♀️ • May 8

"Take ownership of your career path" so true!

This one took me a long time to realise. I used to be just there and saying « yes » to tasks.
But no one can have more your interests in mind than you 😅

Jana • May 9

This was such a great read, as a junior Frontend Developer with only 3 months of professional experience, I can not relate more to so many of your points. Thank you for sharing these tips and being such an inspiration for us!

Truthfully, I aim to be a reliable senior such as yourself one day, that can guide and help others on their journey. I should stop waiting for "29. Mentor younger devs" until I feel "ready" or "good enough". Your post is eye-opening.

Super glad you like it. Yes there are always people you can help even after 3 months.

Michael Tharrington • May 10

What an awesome freaking list of advice. This is great!

Thanks a lot 🙏

MarsCode • May 9 • Edited

Great tips! Additionally, for beginners, considering an AI-powered IDE or plugin,might be helpful.

Thanks ! Yes copilot is definitely super helpful if you can afford it 😌

MarsCode • May 9

Definitely, Copilot is great! Oops, sorry for the shameless plug, for those who are looking for a FREE option, MarsCode also offers advanced AI features. Worth checking out! 😊

David Miller • May 8

I'm a junior dev myself. I was able to both empathize and learn from this article. Thanks for taking the time and thought to write it.

I am happy you like it. Hope you won’t make the same mistakes I did 😅.

Comment deleted

Mehedi Islam Ripon • May 9

don't spam!

Paweł Ciosek • May 8

great post! 👏

Thanks 🙏

Tanvir Shaikh • May 9

i want to make new dev friends

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 9

Well, here I am! 😄

Hi, my name's Benjamin. I've been developing for six months. How long have you been developing? Do you have a dev related job yet?

If your interested in getting in contact, I can send you my email.

Tanvir Shaikh • May 10

i'm working as full-stack dev, developing for 6 years , sure you can share

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 10

Oh, okay. Well, I've only been doing front-end six months. Here is my email:

const email = "Ben_Leevey@proton.me"

Ashley D • May 12 • Edited

This! 🙌
Wonderful article. Not only did I learn some wonderful tips, I also found I related to many of your experiences @_ndeyefatoudiop. ❤️

(#34) - Be comfortable saying no: That was definitely something I've struggled for for years as a people pleaser. However, after going through a particular bad round of burnout and health issues as a year ago from overloading myself, I have learned to embrace starting to say no.
And great callout for #25- taking breaks is important but we twin- it can be hard to step away but it always ends up being worth it because you are right- when you come back refreshed- you think better. 😊
(#27)- And so true about taking ownership of career path... I never thought I could rewrite my career. I was pigeonholed in customer-facing work for a decade, but I finally got the chance to do a bootcamp apprenticeship which I just started this year to transition to tech.
I love (#7) as well about not copying code you don't understand. It can be tempting, but I agree and especially for beginners like myself- I think the best way to learn is trying to code it first before looking it up, or if I do use chatGPT- I use it to talk through my code instead of having just give me the answer at once.
And yasss for (#36)- focus on quality vs just adding on a bunch of features. That is excellent advice- especially as we have a capstone project coming up here for bootcamp. That is a great reminder and helps me in how I approach it. 💖

Ndeye Fatou Diop • May 12

I am super glad you like all these points, @ashleyd4880 😀.
It means a lot to know that this is a shared experience!

Godwin Archibong • May 9

farid • May 9

Thank you. You put a lot of valuable information in this post.

Glad you like it 🙏

Ricardo Esteves • May 13

@_ndeyefatoudiop awesome article, let me tell you!! Really enjoyed it.

Ndeye Fatou Diop • May 13

Thanks! Glad you liked it 😌

Cheikhnouha • May 9

Thanks you so much for this

You are welcome 🙏

AnaDev • May 23

So much good advice! I'll keep this list close to refresh my memory from time to time hahah Thank you

Ndeye Fatou Diop • May 24

Thanks a lot AnaDev! Glad you like it 😌

Tay • May 9

Thank you! These are some really great tips.

Glad you like them 🙏

dmendezg14 • May 8

Thank you, I start learn to full stack. Very Good!!

I am glad you like them! Best of luck in your journey!

Wes • May 9

Thank you - great advice!

Glad you like it Wes 🙏

MD-Dhaval-Saxena • May 8

Great Advice!

Glad you like them!

himanshu maheshwari • May 9

great knowledge sharing

Glad you like it 🙌

byby • May 8

That's too many to remember, my only advice after 10+ years is that keep building a lot of projects on your field of expertise.

This is a very good advice indeed: a combination of many of the tips given 😅.
Practicing different things is definitely the thing to do!

Haya • May 9

taking notes for my first job in tech 💖🦄🔥

Congrats for that first job 🙏

Super glad you like it!

msc2020 • May 8

Very good!

Glad you like them!

Shaikh Mohd Noman • May 10

Thanks, it was very insightful, I'll start working on it today.

Glad you like it😌

Alex Gonzalez • May 9

thanks for sharing in a unique guide the keys to become a Senior!

Glad you like it 🙏

Md Nazmul Haque • May 9

Thanks man

You are welcome 🤗

Muskan Dodmani • May 9

A very big thanks to you sir! 🫡🫡
All of this was so insightful
I'll be applying for jobs and once I get one, I'll make sure to apply these tips

Thanks Muskan 🙌
Best of luck in your journey !

javinpaul • May 9

Great advices, very practical

Thanks 🙏

Leonardo Oliveira • May 9

Thank you

You’re welcome

apb8176 • May 9

💖🦄🔥

FrontEndWebDeveloping • May 9

A good post. Well written and logical. Also, your advice is widely applicable and suitable for a large audience.

Very glad you like it!

Miguel • May 8

Thank you very much for this post

Very glad you like it 😌

Minhaz Halim (Zim) • May 8

Such a great advice

Glad you like it and hopefully you won’t have to learn these the hard way 😅

Allison Randel • May 8

This is great! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! I am glad you like them!

Tássio • May 8

Nice article! 👏 Guess I would also add something regarding not having framework/tools preferences. Thinking about people who decide to use framework/tool A or B based on preferences and likes.

Sreeram • May 9

Very useful article. I've been coding for more than 10 years and can relate to most of the points. Well done.

Thanks a lot! I am glad you like it!
Wouaw 10 years is a lot 🙌

R A M • May 9

Thank you for this

Glad you like it 🙏

Fullstack Dev • May 8

This is a great advice right there!

Glad you like it!

ThoBinh02qv • May 9

This article will help me a lot!

I am happy to hear that 😌

Jasper Macaraeg • May 9

Thank you for tips it help me a lot!

Super happy to hear that 😌

Jeff Chavez • May 9

I need this. Thank you.

"Don't copy/paste code you don't understand"

Comment deleted

Glad you like it😌

Raj Kiran Chaudhary • May 10

Great tips. Thank you for sharing

Glad you liked them

Salvation Maduka • May 10

great insight, i grabbed a lot

Super glad you like them!

Yahaya Oyinkansola • May 29

Thank you for sharing your experience in this article on how to grow as a developer to senior levels. I feel like there is a problem with the no 1 point. Senior devs say that we should master the fundamentals, but yet, a lot of people say staying too long on learning fundamentals will not help you stay relevant, that you can always learn as you go, even if it isn't making sense initially. So please in your experience, how do you balance this out?

Point no 2 - I always feel like I don't understand the web enough, especially when I see this point on other articles or videos

Point no 11 is something I just recently started taking serious. I will always start a project without taking out time to understand what needs to get done. Later on when I am now stuck, I will start feeling like a failure because I know what to do, while also not knowing what to do (This might sound funny). This is a serious thing that developers need to learn early on, it changed the game for me when I decided to take it serious

Nerando Johnson • Oct 22

This was a really great addition to @abbeyperini's article.

Emmanuel Obioha • Aug 5

Thank you so much for this wonderful piece... This is just what I needed:

I am still a beginner in a web dev just finished my frontend course and finding it hard to carry out my certification projects because I feel as like I don't have what it takes....

So, for weeks now I've been on an endless cycle of studying more from various sources hoping that one day I will be ready to take on my projects 😅

No more procrastination! I'm going to take the step and tackle my projects head-on this time.

But I have a question:
As a frontend developer, is there a digital way to create a blueprint of my project design ideas which will serve as a guide to me when I start writing out the codes?

Julie • Jun 23

Lovely article! I greatly enjoyed reading it, and it definitely sparked some thought! I'm still in very early mode for front end work. Trying to build my HTML & CSS base more solidly and attempting to wrap my head around JS! Thanks for taking the time to write up info like this for others! Very helpful.

John Liter • May 15

As someone that is new to Web Development and currently in school for it, this article is by far something I’m going to keep and use. This advice is amazing and it really put spoon perspective for me. Thank you so much for taking the time to share this. It is very inspiring and has inspired me to look at quite a few things to help me succeed and to also teach to future coders.

Mohaned Benmansour • May 15

I have four years of experience as a web developer and six years in general development. This list offers excellent tips for beginners. However, I recommend mastering JavaScript before diving into any JS framework. Additionally, given the current trends, understanding TypeScript and its data types is equally important. Thank you for the insightful tips

Ahmed Mahmud • Jun 15

What an amazing resource! This post has given me even more motivation and confidence that I can do it 💪. It offers a wealth of practical advice and insights that can inspire and guide anyone in the field 🙂

Stephen Smith • May 8

I disagree with bullet point #2 HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are not the only things that can run in the browser. With the creation of web-assembly almost any code can be run in the browser. Not as effectively at times.