Are you a newbie ? Do you hold years of experience in the industry? Regardless of your present state in the field of web development, the following tips will help you develop your front-end development career and take it to the next level too.
Becoming an Expert Front-End Developer
- Planning is Key
Not planning is a sin for any developer. Proper planning saves time, reduces stress when the deadline approaches, and simplifies the process. A skilled and polished developer must do a lot more than putting down a list of templates and elements to be converted from PSD to HTML. You need to create a ‘to-do’ list before starting off with a project. This will let you stay organized, focused on the project, highlight roadblocks of project, and much more. You can also use some of the helpful tools for planning such as Workflowy, Writemaps, etc. Careful planning will make your project a success.
- Love Your Code
Presenting code on live sites is a strict no-no. You need to extract your best code samples and then place them on GitHub. This will promote easier access and review. So love your code and show your love for it. Code your own unique piece.
- Being Proactive
It is not good to tell your clients that the project won’t be delivered on time. This suggests professionalism on the part of a front end developer. You need to proactively highlight any delays or roadblocks. It is not uncommon for things to take longer than planned. However, it is definitely not ok to keep the change in plan to yourself. So when something of this happens, just call out. This will make your clients appreciate your efforts.
It is good to send your client a short summary of the actions you took for the day and plans for the following day. You may also highlight concerns (if any). This will make you look more professional and even boost your credibility, and establish a relationship of trust with clients.
You can set reminders to for giving the project progress update. Some of the best tools to use for reminders include Google Calendar, iOS Reminders, Evernote etc.
- No Bad Plugins
Steer clear of bad plugins if you don’t want that carefully built software to get infected due to bad code. Determining a bad plugin or library isn’t tough. All you need to do is have a look at the GitHub or WordPress plugins repository. Also check the following:
– The popularity and rating
– Last release date
– Number of issues
– The issue’s severity
– Time taken to get solved
- Keep Inquisitiveness Alive
You need to be curious all the time. Get to know about new tools, techniques, plugins, and languages that get released almost daily. Keep yourself open to embrace new things and make dedicated attempts and efforts to explore and understand them. Do not let your skills become outdated fast.
- Lifelong Learning
Yes, being an expert front end developer is not just about holding knowledge and experience. It is a lifelong commitment. You would require learning new tech terms, staying updated with new exciting frameworks emerging every month and much more. Web development is a lifelong commitment to gaining knowledge on new stuff. If you need to know more information, so feel free to ask us: freelancewebdeveloper.net
- Expect Problems
Keep your eyes, ears, and mouth open always. Your clients are smart to notice errors. They will confront you sooner than you think. So anticipate problems. Discuss any problem with clients and try to rectify errors as soon as possible.
- Mentor Hunt
It helps to find a mentor. They are more experienced and can teach you how to code and what to avoid doing. Mentor can be anyone – your colleague, friend, boss, or someone you have been following online. Browse the net for the same. You may start by following experienced developers such as Paul Irish, Chris Coyier, etc. A good mentor will provide you advice on various things such as your project approach and even let you predict any potential roadblocks.
- Keep it Simple and Don’t Repeat
You need to understand the meaning behind popular programming principles such as Keep it short and simple. Another common principle is ‘Don’t repeat yourself’. This is one of the best ways to make your development more effective and dynamic. You can simplify and shorten development time through using existing knowledge and code again.
