Getting a Front-end Developer Job

Written by Cody Lindley

The Front-End Developer Roadmap from Frontend Masters - Advance your skills with in-depth, modern front-end engineering courses.

Overview:

An examination on how one becomes a front-end developer.

Contribute content, suggestions, and fixes on github:

https://github.com/FrontendMasters/learning-roadmap

Self-directed Training/Education

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, lynda.com, 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.

Directed Training/Education

If the self-directed route is too overwhelming, the following more traditional training/educational routes can be taken:

  1. Complete a non-accredited online or in-person bootcamp/course/program (Find one at Course Report or Switchup.org).
  2. 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.

Joining A Developer Community

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.

Building A Resume

When first starting out working towards a combination of the following resume building components:

  1. Have a simple one-page resume (online and digital document), but also have a resume/profile at linkedin and angel.co
  2. Have your own personal domain and website.
  3. 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.
  4. Contribute to an open-source project or start your own.
  5. Author JavaScript packages and publish them on npm.
  6. Author teaching material in the form of articles, books, and screencasts.
  7. Become a speaker at a tech conference or local meetup.
  8. Join a community of developers and participate. This could be an online community or a local meetup community.
  9. 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.

Interview Preparations

Use the following resources to prepare for interviews.

Apply for A Front-end Job

The narrowed list below is currently the most relevant resources for finding a specific front-end position/career.

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, Vettery, 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: