Cher-ing My Love of Front End Development first appeared on Medium.
Me: I will never be a coder because I am terrible at math!
Also me: building websites for fun since 1999 (yeah, I had a GeoCities)
When I was 12, I taught myself HTML & CSS so I could build online Cher shrines. I recall tinkering with my CherGirl website for hours — moving images, playing music upon load, and even adding an animated cursor. In adulthood, I designed websites for companies and personal projects such as nightlife reviews and feminist news. When I discovered the dissonance between “I will never be a coder” and “I build websites for fun,” I applied to the Flatiron School.
Each of the projects I completed in bootcamp were full stack. Hundreds of lines of code later, I’d share my progress with my non-coding partner who would ask, “How will you design it?” This made me think about the amount of work that goes on behind the scenes when all we want to do, for example, is display a question to the user. The back end API of questions needs to be fetched from the front end so we can shuffle and display them randomly using a function and binding methods. Phew! I thought of back end as magic, the design piece as the lipstick. It’s fun and impactful for the user, (depending on the design) it can take a minimal amount of time to apply, but it has very little to do with what is happening within a person (or in this case, within an app).
Upon graduation, my teacher sent out a poll, “Front end, back end, or full stack?” I, like most others, clicked “full stack.” Yet, for the past two months since graduation, I’ve been making decisions that say otherwise:
- I completed a 7 day front end challenge
- I created a portfolio for my partner using just HTML & CSS
- I’m working on the second iteration of my portfolio, using HTML, CSS, and JS
- I find myself choosing to practice various languages by making minimalist front end apps like dic·tion·ar·y, PANTONE through the years, and to do list
There are countless posts in the Twitterverse asking questions like, “Does HTML/CSS even count?” or “(1–10) How much does everyone hate CSS?” to which many people reply, “10!” I’m always super confused by this response. Maybe it is because I learned HTML & CSS at such a young age or maybe, it is because I genuinely enjoy seeing what other people make with them. As someone who makes analog collage, this “art” side of front end is what excites me so much. I’ve seen everything from a pure CSS camera illustration to the Mona Lisa.
I guess what I’m saying is, although I can do full stack development and I like full stack, perhaps I’d like to amend my poll response, at least for the time being, to “front end.” If you ask me, the combination of HTML/CS/ JS is magic.
Top comments (9)
I think I also answered full-stack in that poll, but find myself wanting to do more with CSS myself. I like knowing enough backend to be dangerous, to execute my crazy ideas, but the frontend is where I'm having so much fun.
Also, kudos to you for building 3(!!!) portfolio sites and a few projects since graduating. I still haven't landed on where I want to spend my spare time. I want to do all of the things and end up not making a decision.
I feel the same way re: CSS fun!
THANK YOU. Honestly, I've been beating myself up over "not doing enough," so hearing that is a relief. I realized if I committed myself to one thing I wanted to learn (ie. using an open source API), I could get it done in a weekend rather than being stuck on a problem for weeks. I can't wait to see what you make when you find the process that works for you. :)
Thanks for sharing your journey with this Alicia! I love that you made a Cher website, that's awesome.
I think I also answered full stack in the poll, but I honestly haven't figured out if I do prefer front or back end yet XD I've been spending a lot of time on the job searching directly and it hasn't given me as much time to continue building things as I'd like. But my goal is to change that over the next couple of weeks!
Also, agreed with Shannon--serious kudos to you for building all of this! You are absolutely doing enough :) (Though I know the feeling of thinking you're not doing enough well!)
Ha! I think the poll was a bit premature, if you ask me. Can't wait to see what you make when you're able to find the time (pretty hard to carve out the mental space if you are job seeking). Thank you so much for the words of encouragement!! Coding has certainly been a practice in ignoring what I "should" be doing and what is "enough."
Agreed about the poll XD
And thanks! I definitely have some ideas, but yes, no mental space is absolutely the problem. Hopefully soon!
If I could heart this a few extra times, I WOULD. I loved how you Cher-ed and have learned so many new things about you! Cannot WAIT to see what more you create! Keep cher-ing!
Kindest, most encouraging friend right here!!
RIGHT BACK ATCHA!
I did the same thing back in '97, but for Steve Vai. 😎