Like many of you, I’m not 100 percent sure what it is that I do for a living.
Okay, hear me out. I spend around eight hours a day acting as an engine that converts caffeine to websites. I can cobble together a pretty mean media query, I don’t mind saying. I have whole swaths of the HTML5 specification committed to memory—hell, I wrote some of it. I’m no slouch with JavaScript, and I can put borders on a div with the best of ’em. By any measure, I figure I qualify as a front-end developer.
But as I write this, I’m sitting next to someone working on the test262 project—a massive and incredibly complex suite of tests, written in JavaScript, that ensure that JavaScript itself is functioning as expected. Mike is a front-end developer too—same job title and everything—but the work he does is worlds apart from mine.
Some of us are focused on the ever-expanding landscape of Angulars and Embers and Reacts, some of us are interested in learning more about design systems and style guides, and some of us aren’t quite sure which parts of front-end dev are right for us. That’s okay, though—because there’s room here for all of us, as long as we learn how the pieces fit together.
That’s where our next event comes in: it’s filled with smart folks who span the range of front-end work, and it’s designed to help you explore the technologies and career paths that make up today’s front-end teams.
Event details
This event is free and everyone is welcome—just sign up to receive the viewing instructions. Here are the details:
Wednesday, November 4
1–2 p.m. EDT
via Google Hangout or YouTube livestream
Register or get more details
We’ll have 30 minutes of conversation between our panelists, and then open things up to questions from none other than you. We’ll also share the full video and transcript after the live show ends.
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Panelists
- Moderator: Chris Coyier
- Panelists: Jina Bolton, Una Kravets, Rebecca Murphey, and Marco Rogers
Launch on time with Pantheon
Did you know that 60 percent of sites that fail to launch on time? It doesn’t have to be that way. The folks at Pantheon—who’ve generously sponsored our entire events program this year—have some help for you.
Download their latest ebook: The Perfect Website Launch—a guide for your next website project, from planning to deployment.
Wow, what an incredibly timely event! I’m a “front end dev”, with 12 years of experience and I had to move on from my last position (yesterday) because the definition of front end has changed so much and my skill set wasn’t fitting in any more. All leading to me becoming incredibly frustrated. This discussion I’m sure will hit on exactly the points that I’ve been pondering.
To dive into JS and service layers, further education in Human Computer Interaction, championing accessibility? Where do you go? Thanks again ALA!
Thanks so much for this. It acknowledges something I’ve struggled with profesionally. I was asked to leave a permanent job I’d just been hired for 2 weeks previously, because I couldnt parse a JSON array with Backbone. “Maybe you shouldn’t brand yourself as a frontend developer” was the suggestion.
It’s great that this industry is so vibrant and alive but it can be easy to draw firm boundaries where there’s room for a wider canvas (no pun intended!)
I’m looking forward to this; time to compile a list of open-ended questions to ask in abundance.
Thanks so much for this. It acknowledges something I’ve struggled with profesionally.
laura – Direct Assurance
Looks like I missed the sign up. Was this recorded and is it online somewhere?