5 tips to become a better front-end developer

Hey, everyone! Everyone wants to be better. Front-end developers are not an exception. Usually, in the articles, I share my opinions and experience in technical and business spheres and I talk about it from the CEO’s shoes.

This time I want to talk not about tech or hard skills like CSS, Html, JavaScript that are strongly required among front-end developers. Today I want to pay your attention to soft skills that will help any front-end developer to become much better.

Long ago, in my everyday working routine when I was a software developer I tried to be more productive and effective every day. That’s why after some time, I have found 5 tips to become a better specialist for myself and I still use them as a CEO, moreover, I try to implement them in the work of the developers in my company.

Now let’s take a look at them.

Planning

The first one is planning. It turns out that both newbies and experienced developers do not plan their work. That’s a huge mistake! Believe me, guys, the planning of your daily workflow helps you to save some time, reduce stress and feel more confident because you have the vision of the work for the entire day.

There is another trick. As a rule, most of the developers start their work with the easiest task or just switch from one task to another and, as a result, their productivity decreases. I suggest beginning with the most difficult and unpleasant task. Why? Because after fulfilling this task you will be able to do the rest of them faster and better, furthermore you will feel yourself totally satisfied and confident.

When you focus on one specific task and don’t jump between them your productivity increases as hell.

Communication

Every developer should always have contact with a boss or customer in order to share or receive some important information and avoid future problems.

For instance, you can’t do the project on time because it takes a little longer than you’ve expected. in this case, you must tell your boss and customer about it to find the way out. Trust me, if you do so, any problem will be solved. It’s always better to ask and suggest something.

Don’t be afraid if some of your propositions will be declined whether by your customer or team leader. You need to try at least! You have to show your views, opinions because you are the person who will realize everything. Besides, if your suggestion will be accepted, you’ll be proud of yourself and in the future, everybody probably asks for your suggestions, opinions and what is, more importantly, you will gain respect among others.

Improving your email messages is also essential. It would be better if you make them more structured. When you do so, you will show how professional you really are. Some of the developers just think that it’s not their cup of tea, but trust me, guys, one well-written email saves so much time and effort. Moreover, it will bring your communication skills to a higher level.

Transparentness and honesty

The third tip is transparentness. Never and never give your customers and team the wrong expectations! If you feel if you are not able to handle something, something is just in the wrong way or should not be implemented, no doubt, you definitely have to tell about it, give your explanation why it’s so.

According to my experience, less experienced developers are usually less transparent. They always think that it is a shame to ask for help and they don’t feel comfortable to say if anything is unclear to them.

More experienced developers are aware of their knowledge and skills, they understand there is a ton of things where they are not experts yet but what is really essential they say if they do not understand anything, they don’t hide any thought behind the back.

So, you see that transparentness plays a rather huge role in the work of any developer.

Stick to the KISS and DRY principles.

This tip is rather crucial. We all know that all genius things are simple. Act without any complications, try to do everything as simple as possible because it’s better not just for you but for others as well. Find a simple, short way to do the job effectively and you will succeed.

Don’t forget, you should not repeat yourself. Reduce repetition and avoid redundancy. If you will apply these principles your work will be smooth and easier and you get the thankful customers and colleagues. Just understand these principles to be more productive and robust.

Design feeling

The last tip but not less important is design feeling. You will literally not become a good front-end developer when you don’t appreciate good design. When you don’t feel or understand the basics of the way how users are thinking or working with your interfaces you will just fail or create a bad product.

You need to learn to appreciate design and try to make some small decisions for your designer. He or she will take into account them and it will help you to find the common ground in the work. As a result, you will create a brilliant product.

Summary

To sum up, everything I just give the list of 5 tips to become a better front-end developer:

planning;
communication;
transparentness and honesty;
implementation of the KISS and DRY principles;
design feeling.

So, guys, I hope, these 5 tips to become a better front-end developer will be useful for you and help to create more cool stuff and grow every day.

By the way, if you need a top front-end developer with all the skills I’ve mentioned here or you want to become the part of such a team just check our website AVA codes.