description |
---|
How to become a front-end developer: prepare for interview questions, prepare for jobs, where to find a front-end developer job. |
Overview:
An examination on how one becomes a front-end developer.
The individual who is self-directing their education for the purpose of becoming a professional front-end developer should ease themselves into learning the field of front-end development. First, start small and take in what can be found on the internet for free. For example, start by consuming the materials at MDN "Learn web development", freecodecamp.org, or Khan Academy.
With a peek into the world of front-end development completed, one should next invest roughly $30.00 dollars a month into some non-accredited, on-demand, online video courses, and interactive lessons. For example, follow a recommended learning path from Frontend Masters, LinkedIn Learning, or Pluralsight, and try your hand at codecademy.com.
After cutting your teeth on the learning materials just mentioned, and you are determined to continue on, use this Frontend Masters Roadmap & Guides to direct your education on front-end development.
If the self-directed route is too overwhelming, the following more traditional training/educational routes can be taken:
- Complete a non-accredited online or in-person bootcamp/course/program (Find one at Course Report or Switchup.org).
- Complete an accredited two-year or four-year college education from an institution which offers a degree in web development.
Today, both of these options offer online and in-person programs.
- 10 Interview Questions Every JavaScript Developer Should Know
- Front-End Job Interview Questions
- Interview Questions for Front-End-Developer
- Front End Interview Handbook
Aspiring front-end developers and current professionals can benefit from joining a group of front-end developers either online or in person.
Online Communities:
Local Communities:
Find local front-end development communities by searching www.meetup.com in your area.
When first starting out working towards a combination of the following resume building components:
- Have a simple one-page resume (online and digital document), but also have a resume/profile at LinkedIn and angel.co
- Have your own personal domain and website.
- Have a Github profile/account, preferable with examples of your work or open-source contributions, but also consider having active accounts on Stack Overflow and Twitter.
- Contribute to an open-source project or start your own.
- Author JavaScript packages and publish them on npm.
- Author teaching material in the form of articles, books, and screencasts.
- Become a speaker at a tech conference or local meetup.
- Join a community of developers and participate. This could be an online community or a local meetup community.
- Have a portfolio of projects or coding contributions you have completed that demonstrate your skill. Simply put, build something you can show, even if you have to build it to only show your talent.
- Follow tips for creating a technical resume.
Use the following resources to prepare for interviews.
- Interviewing for Front-End Engineers 🎥 💵
- Front End Interview Handbook
- Tech Interview Handbook
- Getting a Front-End Developer Job 🎥 💵
The narrowed list below is currently the most relevant resources for finding a specific front-end position/career.
- authenticjobs.com
- glassdoor.com
- linkedin.com
- remote.co
- weworkremotely.com
- www.smashingmagazine.com/jobs/
Additionally, if you are participating on Twitter, LinkedIn, Angel.co, front-end communities, and local meetups, you can also notify everyone that you are looking for a job. If one has a strong enough resume, consider having Hired or Woo.io broker a connection to employers.
If getting your first job as a full-time employee for a company is proving difficult, don't discount the following options for the purposes of gaining experience:
- Dev Tips
- Front End Happy Hour
- Front-End Front
- Front-end Focus
- Web Platform News Weekly
- ShopTalk Show
- UX Design Newsletter
- Web Development Reading List
- The Web Platform Podcast
- Web Tools Weekly
- syntax.
- JavaScript Weekly
- Awesome JavaScript Newsletter
- Echo JS
- ECMAScript Daily
- ES.next News
- JavaScript Jabber
- JavaScript Kicks
- React Status
- JS Party
- JAMStack Radio
- My JavaScript Story