7 common mistakes made by frontend developers at the beginning of their careers

Vitaly Tsoi, frontend developer at Kolesa Group

Who is a frontend developer

The first association that comes to mind is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. These are the three main pillars on which all of frontend development rests. It sounds simple. But when you start reading articles, watching tutorials, and opening video lessons, you encounter not only these programming languages but also a huge number of technologies and frameworks you didn't know before. And you begin to get confused. There is also a common myth in the community about frontend: that a thousand new frameworks and libraries are born every day. This theory further exacerbates the already incorrect attitude toward frontend at the beginning of one's career.

After working in frontend for several years, I propose that we change our mindset and forget all those terrifying things with which students and juniors are frightened. Instead, let's return to the basics.

The foundation of frontend

The foundation of frontend consists of three programming languages: HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Let's imagine that a frontend product is a person. Then HTML is their skeleton, organs, limbs, and muscles. CSS is their appearance, such as hair or eye color, hairstyle, and nose shape. And JavaScript is their soul, higher power, ability to change and move. This is a unique person with their own set of characteristics. Or a product. Someone can create a beautiful and useful website, while someone else creates something mediocre and complex. A frontend developer is a person who influences the experience the user will receive. Whether it will be pleasant and easy for them to use the site, whether they will find it useful, and whether they will want to return—all of this depends on the frontend developer.

A frontend developer is a person whose work shapes opinions and inspires users. They connect design and technology. They create useful and beautiful products using these tools, which impact the lives of many people.

Frontend developer mistakes

The first mistake is insufficient practice with the basics.

People who come to frontend get distracted by new trendy technologies and drift away from studying the fundamentals, syntaxes, libraries, and frameworks. A person who does not know the basics will be able to write code that works. But they will not be able to explain why and how it happens.

Advice

Return to the basics.

Libraries, as a rule, do not invent anything new. They work on existing WEB foundations. They are tools to speed up and simplify your work. You can even write your own framework, which might become popular.

Library and framework technologies tend to become outdated and change. Therefore, it is better to invest more knowledge into the fundamentals.

The second mistake is mechanical coding.

This happens because when juniors learn a certain framework, they learn to write it automatically, memorizing the code without understanding how it actually works. But, as I said, a framework is just a tool to make work easier. And when you learn a framework, you should first figure out how specific features work to better understand and write your own code. The result of this mistake is usually this: with a poor understanding of a framework or library, it is impossible to write good, performant code. This will negatively affect everything: task deadlines, work quality, and your colleagues who will later read and decipher what you wrote.

Advice

Ask yourself questions:

— how does <feature> work?

— why does <feature> happen?

— why do I need to use <feature>?

Be insatiable. And if you cannot answer, dig deeper and study.

The third mistake is ignorance of the technology and labor market.

This mistake is not as common as it used to be. Because the frontend industry has more or less "stabilized." But it is still worth approaching this more thoughtfully.

Advice

Spend more time studying the labor market and the industry. Keep a finger on the pulse of new technologies. But do not jump into them headfirst.

Learn to distinguish stable technologies from merely hyped ones.

Study trends, see what people are saying, and how frontend is changing compared to last year. You can do this on the State of JS website. They survey web developers every year and build beautiful and understandable graphs that will be useful to you.

Study the job market regionally. What employers want in the region where you want to work. Requests can change constantly.

Find your dream job. And strive to acquire the knowledge to work where you desire.

The fourth mistake is the inability to choose the first framework.

It is better to choose one technology to gain deep knowledge than to jump from one library to another. Choose one technology and study it. They are all similar and differ almost nothing.

The fifth mistake is the pursuit of perfection.

I have made this mistake and still make it. A common mistake is perfectionism. When you want to make the code the most performant. But stop. Before it's too late. Nothing is perfect. There is no such thing as perfect code or a perfect plan. And you must accept this. And meet the deadline. It is better to do something useful than something perfect.

The sixth mistake is library disease.

This is an irresistible desire to use a library. This leads to suffering for both you and the users. A thousand different libraries mean complex code that hinders everyone.

Advice

Weigh the benefits. Think about what benefit third-party code brings you, whether it has a review, and so on. The main thing is that it saves you time. And saves it not just in the moment, but every day.

The seventh mistake is forgetting about the user.

This is when beauty hinders the user. For example, a designer creates a beautiful minimalist site with small buttons. But a user with a small screen cannot click on them. Beautiful—yes. Inconvenient—also yes. Focus on the user.

Remember: code is for you, features are for people.