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Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

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Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#91

Post by cognivore »

hipsters_unite wrote: post #69
cognivore wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm one, but I've had 26 years of experience in programming and software development to learn the stacks. At the company I work for arguably 4 of the 8 developers are full stack developers, so we can't be that rare. One thing that I'm not seeing here is the long view. Sure, learn JavaScript, but recognize that due to its sub-standard nature it will be a transitional technology until a better run-time for web apps tha…

In all fairness though, it's very easy to bash JS, but the anonymous functions etc., that are really core to the language are pretty powerful. I used to hate it a lot more than I do now, but one day I realized that apart from its more patchy areas (no strftime, what?), it actually covers off a lot of coding styles and patterns you need in order to get stuff done.

Functions being first class citizens are all JavaScript really has going for it (that and a captive audience), and any new web oriented language could incorporate that as well as improvements over JavaScript's awful everything else.

Not that JavaScript isn't useful - it is, and it does allow you to get things done. But imagine the uncountable number of man years that have been wasted coping with JavaScript when it's clearly obvious that something better would have made our jobs a lot easier.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#92

Post by anutron »

IsaacL wrote: post #17

Here's a question: for a decent frontend developer who's still far away from the "master" level he describes here, is it worth chasing mastery or might it be better to branch out to other skills, like management? I think I'm a solid frontend developer, but I'm a few years professional experience away from the level he describes here. I know my way around HTML, CSS and the various browser quirks - though I'm still lea…

note: I'm the author of the article here.

I'd say rather than chase after things for their perceived value, do what you love. A lot of that esoteric knowledge is just the byproduct of doing what you like to do for years on end. If you like what you're doing now, keep doing it, get better, learn more.

As for few products being built around one superhero, that's absolutely true. But it's often the case that when products get created, there's only one UI developer at the start. In the article, the guy I'm referring to was one of the first developers at simple.com - how cool is that?

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#93

Post by anutron »

ialex wrote: post #60

The author is describing at least 3 positions on his post, it is insane to be responsible for the amount of work that it requires the proccess of building a web application. It would be better to hire 3 different amazing people on their field (front-end dev, back-end dev and designer) and most of the times you will get a better result. two heads thinks better than one.

I (the author) would agree that it's insane, but it's often the case that when products get created, there's only one UI developer at the start. More importantly, if you DO have all those skills, you'll keep getting those kinds of opportunities.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#94

Post by actsasbuffoon »

kfk wrote: post #65
davedx wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you were a full stack JavaScript wizard AND you had solid design skills, you would be a unicorn with hooves made of diamond and a jet engine strapped on its ass.

And... question. Why don't you teach newbies and then you hire them?

That's a solid option if you have:

  * The money to pay a junior developer who won't be productive until they're trained (probably a few months).
  * The money to pay a more experienced developer to train someone rather than working on your app.
  * The wiggle room on your deadlines to be able to slow things down for training.
  * The stomach to live with the fact that an experienced developer may become available two weeks after you've hired a junior dev.
Depending on your requirements it could be the right call.

A bootstrapped startup is almost never going to have the capital to make this feasible, but a big company might.

Java developers are easy enough to find, so it rarely makes sense to spend months training someone. Ruby developers are a bit harder, and the training is almost mandatory if you're looking for Haskell developers.

That said, I would like to see big companies take a leadership role in this stuff. My company is always complaining about how hard it is to find qualified people. We've got the time and resources to run a bootcamp-style training course. We could bring in 30 people and train them for a few weeks and offer junior positions to the people who performed best. The people who were passed over still have valuable skills they can use to be hired by other companies.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#96

Post by pc86 »

Article title: Why it's good to be a JavaScript developer

Article content: Why it's good to be a JavaScript developer who is also a back-end developer who is also a systems administrator who is also a designer who is also a ...

This guy wants to hire people with 15-20+ years of experience, and I'm willing to bet he's not willing to pay for it.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#97

Post by dmragone »

talmand wrote: post #83
Swizec wrote: post #21

What if I am a JavaScript wizard who is also a backend wizard, and I know a lot about CSS/HTML and browser quirks, but I couldn't design my way out of a wet and ripped paper bag? Can I be awesome too? Or am I designated to the waste bin? Because that would suck. I don't like the waste bin. It smells funny.

Don't bother. I'm a front-end developer that happens to have a degree in design and no one from creative listens. Or they gripe about interrupting the "creative process" when I point out problems in the design intended for browsers before anything gets built. Telling them their "creative process" is just their opinion falls on deaf ears.

That sounds like a problem with your particular work environment, rather than a reason to not learn design

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#98

Post by baudehlo »

babby wrote: post #36
liviu wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why? For CoffeeScript you already need to know and understand how JavaScript work. And for a experienced JS programmer, it will be very easy to code in CoffeeScript.

Yeah this point needs to be stressed. CS is just javascript. You're not suppose to use CS unless you know JS well. Enough said.

People say this all the time but it's not true. There are a bunch of things in JS that just don't work (are compile errors) in CS. Like conditional expressions.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#99

Post by mooreds »

taude wrote: post #82

Am I the only one who thinks a lot of this is a little too specific on so many things? This thing reads like a list of things discovered while building an app, now they're making it gospel to know all these nuances. Knowing the trialing-comma thing, for example, is an I.E. only thing. What if you just don't code with trailing-commas to begin with because it doesn't look right, so you've never come across that? Anyway…

To be fair the article is from 2010, when legacy browsers mattered far more (aka were more prevalent) than they do nowadays.

Re: Why It’s a Good Idea to Be a JavaScript Developer, and What it Takes to Be One

#100

Post by wyclif »

danbruc wrote: post #59

A unicorn? That is the description of a average to good programmer and there are quite a few of them.

That's not what a 'unicorn' means in this context. Yes, there are quite a few "average to good" programmers. But a unicorn is a programmer who knows so many esoteric languages/frameworks/platforms that they are nearly non-existent in the wild and almost impossible to hire.
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