Web Development

Navigating Software Engineering Career Paths

Nov 5, 2019

Should you dive deep into one front-end framework or try to learn all of them? How do you know if you're ready for a senior engineering position? What should you even be working on learning? These questions are extremely common in a field as rapidly changing as software engineering, and particularly front-end development, and answers are hard to find.

3 Key Insights from Vue's new functional API RFC

Jun 25, 2019

On June 7th, Evan You (creator of Vue.js) posted an RFC on a Hooks-inspired function-based API for a Vue.js. It's an absolutely fascinating read, and well worth going through. It also sparked quite a bit of conversation and some backlash. I'm not going to go deeply into the conversation, but from my perspective the Vue team has done a great job listening to feedback and using it to improve the RFC.

Microfrontends: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Jun 17, 2019

Front-end twitter exploded last week talking about 'microfrontends', with strong arguments and strong opinions jumping out on both sides. The argument reminds me a lot about the 'CSS in JS' argument, with both sides talking past each other.

Let's Talk Testing: 4 quick lessons on the philosophy of testing

Jun 11, 2019

Testing is an area of front-end-development that has improved rapidly in the last few years, but it can still feel overwhelming. Tools like Mocha, Jasmine, and Jest have made writing tests far easier... but there's still a gap. It's extremely hard to find information on the philosophy of testing.

Top 5 skills to learn as a junior JavaScript developer

Jun 4, 2019

Jerod, Divya, Nick, and I recently had a conversation about in-demand skills for JavaScript developers during segment 2 of JSParty #77. It's a recurring theme in the JavaScript world because there's sooooo much rapid change, and it's hard to know what to focus on.

Web Development Nuts And Bolts: How to Publish a Website

Apr 2, 2019

It's a great time to be a web developer. There's so many options, so many frameworks, so many places to learn. But for a new developer, it can be tricky to see how it all fits together. How do you actually get from the thing you've been learning to something on the web that real people can use?

Top 5 Frontend Development Megatrends

Mar 21, 2019

It can feel overwhelming to be a web developer. Constantly trying to keep up, learning new frameworks, learning new language features, sometimes learning entire new languages. It's no wonder that front-end developers are often stressed out of their minds. But there is hope: In the last few years, while there has still been tremendously rapid change, and there are more front-end frameworks and packages available than ever, there has also been some consolidation of concepts into a few megatrends.

Learning Web Development in 2018

Aug 14, 2018

Learning web development in 2018 is overwhelming. There's just so damn much to learn. The JavaScript ecosystem is growing more quickly than any other. There is. So. Damn. Much. Guides to becoming a web developer look like the freaking flying spaghetti monster.

How WebAssembly is Accelerating the Future of Web Development

Jun 26, 2018

"Is WebAssembly going to kill JavaScript?" This question has been on the lips of many a developer ever since WebAssembly (WASM) began to look like it might actually become a reality. While many have speculated that WebAssembly will mean the end of JavaScript, those involved in creating it deny any such intent.

Github Stars !== Usage: React is still blowing Vue and Angular Away

Jun 19, 2018

Last week there was a fairly momentous occurance in the JavaScript framework world: Vue.js passed React.js in the number of people who have 'starred' it on Github.

The Web Fundamentals Gap

Oct 24, 2017

I had a conversation with a friend yesterday who is looking to fill a role in his company and expressed some frustration with a challenge I've been seeing lately as well:

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