What should a Junior Front end Web Developer know before getting a job? (employment, debt)
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If you want to be on the leading edge of design and dev. You need to focus on languages and products that make you most productive. With the right tools you should be able to do the work of 3 or more hand coders. Also, if you're going to use email, you should have your own website with an email address at your domain name!
I agree, I was "learning a bit of everything", but recently I've been really focusing on Photoshop, Illustrator, HTML5/CSS3, PHP, mySQL, and Javascript (jQuery, AJAX, & JSON).
These seem to be the technologies that'll help me most in the long run. And yeah still trying to code up and deploy my personal site so I can have my own email.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zaba
That there's a guy in India willing to do your job for $4 an hour.
Got a taste of outsourcing earlier this year. Not a good feeling.
Wow, that is very interesting. I was learning Angular, but heard it was really similar to Backbone so I put it down for that.
Yea. Angular is similar to backbone but is more in line with the w3c's guidelines around web components. Backbone has been very popular, but it's been outpaced by some newer frameworks. Angular was the newer one that was expected to hold out until web components but it looks like Angular is on its way out for the more favorable Polymer and React.js. React is extremely fast, but Polymer is similar to web components.
Yea. Angular is similar to backbone but is more in line with the w3c's guidelines around web components. Backbone has been very popular, but it's been outpaced by some newer frameworks. Angular was the newer one that was expected to hold out until web components but it looks like Angular is on its way out for the more favorable Polymer and React.js. React is extremely fast, but Polymer is similar to web components.
Thanks for putting me on alert about React, looks like something I might wanna learn sometime.
1. Try to find a firm that will do the dirty work (of getting paid) for you. If you plan on freelancing, look for agencies that already have an installed client base, or firms that will find the work for you. The most stressful part of the industry is negotiating with clients. You are a developer. Negotiation really shouldn't be a part of the occupation.
2. Be prepared to read between the lines. If a company has a laundry list of job requirements and already appears to be well-established, chances are you will be applying for a position previously held by an individual who had left the company prior (not always the case, but happens more often than not).
3. Ignore job listings for rockstar ninjas. These people do not value their businesses properly, and neither should you (unless they, themselves are indeed rockstars). You are a junior frontend developer, not a rockstar ninja.
3. Don't get discouraged. Employers these days have gotten far more demanding. Even in a junior role, not only will you be expected to be a full-stack developer, but you may also need to master a number of frameworks (some of which are still in their infancy). Employers will also ask for a bachelor's degree in computer science, however experience and application may trump education depending on the scenario.
4. Don't sell yourself short. Somebody once said, "Work for free. Work for full price. Never for cheap." You are better off giving gifts and doing favors than racing to the bottom.
5. Don't be afraid to go into business for yourself. If you, yourself are a visionary, and find yourself working for a small startup that doesn't share your vision, then you may be better off spending your energy on acquiring the appropriate funding to carry out the product you envisioned. Ultimately, you are there to help the startup reach its goal, not the other way around.
Now is such exciting of a time to be involved with web and mobile application development. However, it also kind of sucks seeing the direction where everything could potentially be heading. Stay positive and keep your eyes open, and you'll do fine.
1. Try to find a firm that will do the dirty work (of getting paid) for you. If you plan on freelancing, look for agencies that already have an installed client base, or firms that will find the work for you. The most stressful part of the industry is negotiating with clients. You are a developer. Negotiation really shouldn't be a part of the occupation.
2. Be prepared to read between the lines. If a company has a laundry list of job requirements and already appears to be well-established, chances are you will be applying for a position previously held by an individual who had left the company prior (not always the case, but happens more often than not).
3. Ignore job listings for rockstar ninjas. These people do not value their businesses properly, and neither should you (unless they, themselves are indeed rockstars). You are a junior frontend developer, not a rockstar ninja.
3. Don't get discouraged. Employers these days have gotten far more demanding. Even in a junior role, not only will you be expected to be a full-stack developer, but you may also need to master a number of frameworks (some of which are still in their infancy). Employers will also ask for a bachelor's degree in computer science, however experience and application may trump education depending on the scenario.
4. Don't sell yourself short. Somebody once said, "Work for free. Work for full price. Never for cheap." You are better off giving gifts and doing favors than racing to the bottom.
5. Don't be afraid to go into business for yourself. If you, yourself are a visionary, and find yourself working for a small startup that doesn't share your vision, then you may be better off spending your energy on acquiring the appropriate funding to carry out the product you envisioned. Ultimately, you are there to help the startup reach its goal, not the other way around.
Now is such exciting of a time to be involved with web and mobile application development. However, it also kind of sucks seeing the direction where everything could potentially be heading. Stay positive and keep your eyes open, and you'll do fine.
Awesome advice brah, thanks! How would I go about finding agencies and firms to work for?
Also, should I still apply to jobs that ask for a BS? I've heard for a lot of people that degrees aren't necessary in Web Development and Design.
Awesome advice brah, thanks! How would I go about finding agencies and firms to work for?
Also, should I still apply to jobs that ask for a BS? I've heard for a lot of people that degrees aren't necessary in Web Development and Design.
Yes, I think you should. Employers often "require" a degree in computer science or another related field but that is almost always NOT a hard and fast requirement.
The job req for the job I just accepted requires a computer science degree. I have a degree in a liberal arts discipline.
In this field it's less about what degree you have and more about what you can DO. The more experience you have, the less your educational background matters. At this point in my career, interviewers rarely ask me where I went to school or what I majored in even though it's right there on my resume. They don't care. They don't even get that far. Even if they do bring it up, it's more to joke with me about football rivalries than anything else.
(I went to UT-Austin, a "powerhouse" school for college football. You see a lot of Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and U. of Oklahoma graduates here. All of those teams are/were major rivals of ours. Whenever I'm being interviewed by an Aggie, I mention to them that I miss the old rivalry since they moved to the SEC from the Big 12, where Texas still is, but now I have TWO great Texas teams to root for instead of just one. They love that.)
Web development is an interesting field. The more junior you are, the more you are expected to have dabbled in newer technologies/frameworks and the less you are expected to know of anything old. This is because people tend to pick up the latest frameworks when they first get into web development. It would be silly to say that you're going to focus on the old stuff so you can catch up and learn the new stuff. This works in many other areas, but is just not the case in web development.
HTML/CSS/JS is a must.
Older technologies like jQuery, PHP, etc. are not desirable in junior level developers.
Newer technologies like React.js, Angular, Require.js, Flexbox, Streams (with node or something similar in the backend), RESTful, etc.
A good sense of design is great to have. Responsive is great as well.
I have to disagree with the bolded part, PHP isn't the most important for a front end developer, but I've seen a lot of junior positions that require knowledge of jQuery, and except for larger companies with extremely distinct teams, back end knowledge such as PHP and even MySQL can be a great boost. Experience with an MVC framework is also usually a nice boost, even older ones. Most companies I've found don't care too much about the particular framework, as long as you've worked with one. Angular and Backbone are definitely strong technologies but most places I've looked at list them as "nice to haves". Responsive design is definitely a huge buzzword in the industry right now.
The suggested technologies can also change depending on the specific company. Right now there are a lot of front end developer positions that require good knowledge of Wordpress, especially if they are a CMS shop. Marketing firms often want their developers to have a familiarity with Salesforce. Unfortunately, in computer programming you need to know the job you want before you know what to learn. There were places I interviewed at that wouldn't even consider somebody without Wordpress experience, but at the job that I accepted knowing Wordpress wouldn't even get me the slightest brownie points, it was completely irrelevant. At the very least, OP, you should have an idea of the general industry you want to be in, but you should definitely have the basics (HTML, CSS, and JS) and at least 1 or 2 more advanced skillsets (Angular/Backbone, Database, Server Side, etc.)
My company just recently hired a junior front end developer and our list of requirements was:
Essential:
HTML 5
CSS 3
jQuery
AJAX
Some PHP experience
Some MySQL experience
Some MVC experience, Zend 1 preferred.
Nice To Have:
Backbone.js
Cometd
Photoshop experience
SASS
Experience with responsive design
MongoDB experience
Knowledge of Salesforce
Even though this new hire's primary role is front end design and development, if she was working on a page and needed a new view variable, she should be competent enough to go into the PHP and know how to set the variable, rather than creating a new issue and pushing off the task to a back end developer.
I checked your web page from work - the same place I'd be if I were checking any candidate's information.
I got a giant popup that the site does not support IE 8 and asking me to upgrade to another browser before I could go forward. This could be a big problem because my company requires IE8. The company I came from also had IE 8 installed by default.
Yes, I think you should. Employers often "require" a degree in computer science or another related field but that is almost always NOT a hard and fast requirement.
The job req for the job I just accepted requires a computer science degree. I have a degree in a liberal arts discipline.
In this field it's less about what degree you have and more about what you can DO. The more experience you have, the less your educational background matters. At this point in my career, interviewers rarely ask me where I went to school or what I majored in even though it's right there on my resume. They don't care. They don't even get that far. Even if they do bring it up, it's more to joke with me about football rivalries than anything else.
(I went to UT-Austin, a "powerhouse" school for college football. You see a lot of Texas Tech, Texas A&M, and U. of Oklahoma graduates here. All of those teams are/were major rivals of ours. Whenever I'm being interviewed by an Aggie, I mention to them that I miss the old rivalry since they moved to the SEC from the Big 12, where Texas still is, but now I have TWO great Texas teams to root for instead of just one. They love that.)
Lol nice, glad to see you making it brah. Thanks again for the advice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by awestover89
I have to disagree with the bolded part, PHP isn't the most important for a front end developer, but I've seen a lot of junior positions that require knowledge of jQuery, and except for larger companies with extremely distinct teams, back end knowledge such as PHP and even MySQL can be a great boost. Experience with an MVC framework is also usually a nice boost, even older ones. Most companies I've found don't care too much about the particular framework, as long as you've worked with one. Angular and Backbone are definitely strong technologies but most places I've looked at list them as "nice to haves". Responsive design is definitely a huge buzzword in the industry right now.
The suggested technologies can also change depending on the specific company. Right now there are a lot of front end developer positions that require good knowledge of Wordpress, especially if they are a CMS shop. Marketing firms often want their developers to have a familiarity with Salesforce. Unfortunately, in computer programming you need to know the job you want before you know what to learn. There were places I interviewed at that wouldn't even consider somebody without Wordpress experience, but at the job that I accepted knowing Wordpress wouldn't even get me the slightest brownie points, it was completely irrelevant. At the very least, OP, you should have an idea of the general industry you want to be in, but you should definitely have the basics (HTML, CSS, and JS) and at least 1 or 2 more advanced skillsets (Angular/Backbone, Database, Server Side, etc.)
My company just recently hired a junior front end developer and our list of requirements was:
Essential:
HTML 5
CSS 3
jQuery
AJAX
Some PHP experience
Some MySQL experience
Some MVC experience, Zend 1 preferred.
Nice To Have:
Backbone.js
Cometd
Photoshop experience
SASS
Experience with responsive design
MongoDB experience
Knowledge of Salesforce
Even though this new hire's primary role is front end design and development, if she was working on a page and needed a new view variable, she should be competent enough to go into the PHP and know how to set the variable, rather than creating a new issue and pushing off the task to a back end developer.
I have pretty much all of the requirements you listed, I guess I should start applying to jobs now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Aggiebuttercup
I checked your web page from work - the same place I'd be if I were checking any candidate's information.
I got a giant popup that the site does not support IE 8 and asking me to upgrade to another browser before I could go forward. This could be a big problem because my company requires IE8. The company I came from also had IE 8 installed by default.
Huh, I think Behance recently redesigned their site so maybe it doesn't support older browsers. It seems to be the trend now.
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Whenever I'm being interviewed by an Aggie, I mention to them that I miss the old rivalry since they moved to the SEC from the Big 12, where Texas still is, but now I have TWO great Texas teams to root for instead of just one. They love that.)
