Forem: Meduard Krasniqi

7 Books That Make You A Great Tech Lead

Meduard Krasniqi — Sun, 30 Jun 2024 14:39:40 +0000

This article was originally posted in my blog: https://www.codebymedu.com/blog/7-books-for-tech-lead

If you're already a tech lead or are planning to become a tech lead in the future, I've gathered 7 of the books I've read that helped me become a successful tech lead that you must read too.

I tried to gather practical books with practical steps in them, so instead of learning theory and forgetting everything afterwards, most of these books focus in practical advice.

If you don't know much about tech lead role, it differs a lot from an IC role. You are required to have a vision for the technical part of a product and lead the team there.

"Talking to Tech Leads" by Patrick Kua
This is my favorite book about tech lead stuff. This book involves interviews with more than 35 tech leads and brings learnings from all of them.

It helped me extremely when I first started as a tech lead to see the potential problems I might have later. And guess what, I ended up dealing with most of the issues that were mentioned and I already had ideas what to do.

"The Manager's Path" by Camille Fournier
This book is critical about learning soft skills such as communication, and learning how to mentor other people.

It's useful for both tech leads and engineering managers. That's why its a must read as it will give you more ideas how people are leaded and managed.

I'd suggest this book more if you're already a tech lead as it provides a lot of ideas for improvements on existing processes you might be doing.

"Staff Engineer: Leadership beyond the Management Track" by Will Larson
To be honest, I didn't know the term Staff Engineer existed and companies actually used it till I read this book.

It was suggested to me be a more senior engineer and I enjoyed every page of it.

This book explains ways you can grow in your career as engineer without having to go to management. It shows different paths including tech lead and what they mean.

Its a small book, so I strongly suggest you check it out as well.

"Drive" by Daniel H. Pink
This is a more advanced book that you can read after a while of becoming a tech lead. Otherwise you might not actually learn anything from it.

It talks about what motivates people and most importantly how to motivate people.

The reason I say you should read it only after becoming tech lead is that you probably don't notice the team motivation deeply as an IC, since you're focused in finishing your tasks.

Remember a not so skilled, but motivated team will go much further than a skilled but not motivated team.

"The Staff Engineer’s Path" by Tanya Reilly
This book does very well with the Staff Engineer book we mentioned above. It goes in more details about the path of Staff Engineers and the lessons apply very well in a tech lead role no matter what level.

You can read this book both before or after becoming a tech lead.

"Engineering Management for the Rest of Us" by Sarah Drasner
This book you only have to read if you're planning to transition to an engineering management role. It teaches a lot about leadership in a form that's easy for technical people to understand.

Though some of the concepts are already useful even if you're planning to stay as tech lead.

"The Hard Thing About Hard Things" by Ben Horowitz
The second non technical book in this list is a must read as well. Since tech leads must have a bigger picture of the company and how the company works in order to successfully lead the team, this book makes it easier to understand why some processes are ran the way they are.

In addition it also provides lessions about leadership that are critical in a tech lead role.

Conclusion
I shared 7 of the books I read as a tech lead. I'd suggest taking a look at each one of them and reading the most interesting one.

If you have more books you've read and would like to suggest for this list feel free to reach out to me at contact@codebymedu.com

How to Become a Frontend Engineer Without a Degree — From My Experience

Meduard Krasniqi — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 20:29:32 +0000

This blog post was originally published in my blog: https://www.codebymedu.com/blog/frontend-engineer-without-a-degree

At only 19, I managed to get a job as React Frontend Engineer without even a high-school degree. And here I will show you step by step how you can do it too.

While I don’t want to discourage you, I have to make it clear that a degree is important in getting a job (Almost any tech job) but not a must, remember everything is possible. This is a strategy how you get selected for interviews and out-perform all the other candidates with a degree.

If you have no degree or no certificates to show, then keep reading.

Tech Stack

First, by now you should have decided on a tech stack you want to work with. If not you should do it already, and practice it for a while.

I would suggest go through the documentations a little bit, check youtube tutorials, read blogs, etc.

It's very important you focus in specific technologies. Example don’t focus on VueJs and React at the same time. Remember jack of all trades, master of none.

You want to be able to tell recruiters “I Know React” not “I’m an expert I already coded in every technology you have”.

Of course it's ok to know related technologies, for example in React case, Next.js, Typescript, etc. they go well together, but not unrelated technologies, even if the company you applying for uses it.

Building Projects

Next, after you’ve learned a bit about your tech stack, you have to practice it. Create at least 3 projects you can show in your portfolio (next step).

Having some projects is extremely important to show that you can code, even if they’re not used in production, you can create a free page to show them for example in vercel.

If you don’t know what projects, I wrote 19 unique ideas here for you.

Bonus if you have someone to create a page for their business for. It can be any business. I’d suggest doing it for free if first project, and asking the owner for a testimonial only.

For my case, I created projects from devchallenges.io and frontendmentor.io, they have very cool ideas, you can check them out.

And don’t spend 6 months creating projects. Instead block 2–3 weeks where you can work hard for 1 project, next 2–3 weeks for the next project, and so on.

Make sure you choose projects that differ from each other, example 1 landing page for a business, 1 app, 1 more complex app, etc.

Creating a Portfolio

First since you’re a web developer, you should never use an already created portfolio from someone else. You always create it yourself. If you have money you can hire a designer in fiverr to create the design for you, but the coding must be done yourself.

Make sure it's unique and it fits your personality/focus. Example if you are a more serious person, create an elegant theme, if you are a funny person, create a more playful theme, and so on. You have to always keep the same public image of yourself.

Include your projects and LinkedIn in there. In a future article I will write how to use LinkedIn for getting job offers.

For the projects, I suggest putting your most complex project first since not all recruiters might look deeper to find other projects. Make sure you write what you learned from it and the tech stack you used.

For portfolio designs, you can get inspired in Dribbble.

Here’s a suggested structure for your portfolio landing page:

Hero: 1–2 sentences about you with your name and optionally a photo of you.
Skills: Display your skills and how much experience you have.
Projects: Show the projects you built above.
Contact form.

Creating a CV/Resume

For a CV, it's again best to create it yourself, but you can also use public tools for it.

For the editor I’d suggest using Canva or Photoshop, instead of some lame pdf editors. Your CV again like your portfolio reflects your image. They should look very similar in design. Same fonts, same colors, same image of you.

In the CV you include all your projects, 1–2 sentences about each, and the tech stack you used. This shows that you have some experience for the technical parts.

Other than that make sure to include your strongest skills as a separate section, and your education level (include a reason why you had to leave school only if it's less than 9 years of school).

Start Applying for Jobs

After you have a portfolio, CV, and projects, you have enough to get hired. Now it's time to apply for jobs.

You apply only at jobs with similar tech stack of yours (it's ok 1–2 technologies are different or you are not experienced in everything). Recruiters will usually only ask about stuff in your CV, and if they ask about technologies you don’t know, simply say so, don’t try to talk yourself out.

I suggest you apply at 3–6 months paid internships, or junior positions. Internships pay less, but they much easier to get, since you have only a short contract, recruiters feel less pressured while hiring.

Unless you can afford it (example living with your parents) don’t get an unpaid internship. You get experience and it looks good in the CV, but there’s easier ways.

Last thing I want to say here is that it's much easier to get a job for a local company, instead of remote. Usually you get hired for remote jobs only if you’re quite experienced.

Preparing for Interview

Before you go to the interview, you have to aim to be the most prepared candidate they ever had. Remember you’re still competing with other candidates to get hired, they probably get tens of applications.

First research a lot about the company, especially if it's the first interview. Learn what they do, read their blogs, check their social media, check the team, remember the interviewers name, etc.

Just in case, write down 2–3 points of improvements for their website if they ask.

Next practice your tech stack. Check documentation again, read your projects (yes that's right, sometimes we forget what we code), ask ChatGPT to interview you for different positions (junior, senior) even if you’re applying for an internship.

Be physically prepared, I mean stay groomed, cut your hair if you need to, if you’re a guy unless you have a good beard you should shave it. Get some fitting clothes that look professional, not many colors or anime in them. Shower same day and put a nice perfume.

I have to be honest with you, looking bad and not having a degree is a terrible combination, remember recruiters are still people, and you’ll get judged even if not intentionally.

Remember you can never be over-prepared. Hard work beats talent every day of the week.

Find a Mentor

If you want to make sure before the interview that everything is top notch, get a mentor or someone to review what you’re prepared for.

I can do mock interviews with you, and we make sure you’re properly prepared. You can contact me here about it.

During the Interview

Time has come, now you’re in the interview. Well it's not that big of a deal even if it's your first interview ever, make sure to stay relaxed and confident, meditate a bit before you go, chew a gum.

I interviewed a lot of people, and most of them were quite nervous, so you stand out just by being calm. Practice live coding or tech interviews, either with a friend, or someone experienced like me.

If you don’t know a question just say you didn’t have the chance to learn it yet, and accept you don’t know. Honesty is very important. If you try to lie and they catch you, it's game over.

You should try to make the interview more like a conversation (even if the recruiters are leading it) and not like you’re being questioned. This makes it noticeable that you’re easy to work with, and gives you more power.

Ask them questions, both about the company, and the team you’ll be working with. I’d suggest asking questions during the whole interview about what they’re talking about (don’t interrupt them randomly). And then in the end 3–4 questions that you prepared beforehand.

The same process for the second interview and so on. They usually differ from each other: Initial interview with HR -> tech interview with devs -> other getting to know each other interviews.

Getting rejected

Hopefully you’re hired by now, but even if not, it's not a big deal, the least thing you want is you get discouraged or depressed from a rejection. That’s not going to help anybody.

Take a bit to reflect on your process. What part are you not happy with, and hopefully you got feedback from the interviewers, if not ask them even afterwards for detailed feedback, they owe you that.

Try to improve your weak areas and not ignore them. It's very important.

—

Feel free to reach out to me for questions, or share your experience at contact@codebymedu.com

I’m working in a detailed course on getting hired that includes many more strategies on how to get hired. Subscribe to my newsletter to get informed for that.

19 Next.js Project Ideas For You to Get Hired

Meduard Krasniqi — Sat, 29 Jun 2024 14:29:05 +0000

This article was originally published in my blog: codebymedu.com/blog/19-next-js-project-ideas-for-portfolio

Whether you’re looking for freelance projects, or a job, or just want to enjoy engineering it’s super important to have projects you can show to your clients or recruiters. But what to really build? There are so many ideas out there And here are some of the ideas I always wanted to build myself including a bonus tip on how to choose the best one for you and your image.

Before we start, these are not just portfolio ideas, you can actually publish them and try to make users and even make money from them. If you create useful products, that is the best way to impress anyone you’re trying to work with.

These ideas can also be written as full stack applications only with Next.js 14 and Supabase or similar for database. I’d suggest making them fully functional, as its more impressive.

As for the design, I’ve only included examples here, but I strongly suggest you try to be creative as much as possible, look at designs on dribbble or similar sites, think what is a good UX, etc. These are very useful skills as a frontend engineer even if directly you won’t create design yourself it will help you build better products in the future.

AI Projects

First, since AI is booming, we must take a look at some ideas to use AI. I’d strongly suggest you have at least 1 AI product in your portfolio, even if its small. Humans love shiny objects, and your visitors will be impressed by you staying up to date with the world.

1. Form Builder with AI

Idea: Create a simple form builder and make it possible for users to give 1–2 sentences and gpt would create a form structure for them.

Examples: tally.so (without AI) or typeform.

2. Survey Builder with AI

Idea: Same as above, this is also a builder but now for surveys. Allow users to give 1–2 sentences about their product, and it would generate a survey with questions, etc.

Examples: formaloo.com/survey-maker

3. Email Marketing Platform with AI

Idea: Create a platform to help people with email marketing, but with the help of AI. Example create email templates, use AI to fill these templates based on user input, schedule emails, etc.. You can use Resend or similar to send the email.

Examples: Mailchimp

4. Day Organizer

Idea: Example user would type what he want to do for the day, and AI would generate a structure for the day, in the UI the user can make changes, regenerate the structure, and so on. You can even go further and make email/calendar integrations, mobile app, etc.

Examples: UseMotion

5. Code Review Tool with AI

Idea: Build a page where you can paste code, and gpt would review it and suggest for suggestions. If you want to make it more complex, you can accept multiple files, or even repositories, integrations, etc.

Examples: CodeRabbit

Saas Projects

Saas projects are a great idea to have in your portfolio, first they’re inovative, and second they’re pretty complex to build alone both technically and as a product, and usually very scalable, meaning you can make it as complex as you want. Lets look at some of the ideas, however I suggest you go and check in producthunt or similar places for even more ideas.

6. Invoice Generator

Idea: Create a product where companies can manage their invoices, generate new ones for their clients, send them to the clients, and so on. Because many companies have the problem that invoicing is done manually, it takes a lot of unnecessary resources from them, if you create a Saas that will reduce their time, you’ll even be able to find real clients.

Examples: Stripe invoices

7. Online Booking System

Idea: Small businesses need a way to manage the appointments with their clients, schedule them, and so on. You can create a Saas that allows anyone to use it and it would solve the mentioned problems.

Examples: SimplyBook.me

8. Feedback Manager

Idea: Develop a product that companies can use to gather and organise user feedback, create tasks, rank by priority, and so on. This is a problem at many many companies, because most of the feedback from users simply gets lost. You can even combine this with the Survey Builder we talked about above.

Examples: UserBack

9. CMS for Managing Blog Posts.

Idea: Create a Content managment system where you can create new blog posts, manage them, publish to your own website, etc.

Examples: Sanity

10. HR Software

Idea: Create a product where companies can create an applicant tracking system for them where they can accept applications to their jobs, manage applications, set appoints, and so on.

Examples: Personio

Library Projects

This is a must-have if you’re looking to get a job as frontend engineer. Writting open source libraries and contributing to the community, will show your love for the frontend. Only negative thing is if your library is useful, you’ll have to deal with a lot of fame.

11. UI Component Library

Idea: Create a Component library with specific design system, create reusable components, more complex components, and so on. You can even sell your components like tailwindcss does for example.

Examples: NextUI

12. Authentication/Authorization Kit

Idea: Authentication/Authorization can be quite complex by itself, this is why a library f or this would be useful. You can create something that makes it easy to create login/signup pages, handle authentication sessions, handle authorization based on user role, etc.

Examples: Clerk

13. Analytics Helpers

Idea: Many companies use google analytics and so on, but they also come with privacy issues, etc. and they always have to ask users for cookie permissions for it. You can create a privacy focused analytics library that allows devs to create their own analytics solution without sending data somewhere.

Examples: Plausible (not the same as the idea above)

14. File Upload Helpers

Idea: Create a library to help with file uploads. Handle validation, uploading to different sources, and so on.

Example: Filepond

15. Gamification Helpers

Idea: This can be a really useful library if you’re creating chats, or communities, and so on. This library would help you gamify your platform, example create levels for users, show leaderboards, an so on.

Examples: Unfortunately I couldn’t find one.

Boring Projects

I only call these boring projects, because everyone talks about them, and a lot of people already have them in their portfolios. Though you should not ignore them. Using Next.js to build full stack apps like these can be beneficial as these are the typical “real” application for most of the recruiters/clients.

16. Job Board

Idea: Create a job board where companies can share jobs, and people can apply to them, either directly or links to another ATS.

Examples: Indeed

17. Recipe Website

Idea: Allow people to share food recipes, sell recipes, have a personal page with collection of their recipes, and so on.

Example: tasty.so

18. Event Management System

Idea: This platform would allow companies to create events such as webinars or similar, invite people, manage atendees, etc.

Example: Evenito

19. Portfolio Builder

Idea: In this product users would be able to create portfolios for themselves and publish them. You can create your own unique UI and add more features such as selling product, or similar.

Examples: I am creating something similar in reputable.so

Bonus

As a bonus I want to give you 1 tip only. Try to build something you love and enjoy, this way you’ll be way more motivated to do it, and it will help create a stronger image in your portfolio. Example you should not create recipe websites if you’re trying to find clients to build complex Saas for them. You can even create projects that help the frontend community if you’re trying to find a job. This way you can show that you really love what you’re doing.

Conclusion

I hope you found the project you want to build next using Next.js from the ideas above. My goal here was not to only provide you with specific ideas, but rather you try to create more unique ideas on your own, and I hope that worked.

If you have any questions, or want me to look at your ideas feel free to contact me through email: contact@codebymedu.com or check more in my blog https://codebymedu.com/blog

Without user feedback, you’re just another "developer"

Meduard Krasniqi — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 10:21:03 +0000

This article was originally published in my blog: https://www.codebymedu.com/blog/role-of-user-feedback-in-frontend

I’ve always believed that hearing directly from users is a game changer when building websites. It’s like having a guide who tells you exactly where to go and what to fix. That’s why user feedback is so crucial especially in frontend —it helps us see our work through the users’ eyes.

In this article, I'll share how listening to user feedback has changed the way I build my projects, making them more effective and user-friendly. We’ll look at why this feedback is so important and how you can use it to improve your own web applications.

Why User Feedback is so Important?

First user feedback is all the comments, suggestions, and opinions that users give you about your website. This could be anything from telling you a button is hard to find, to suggesting a new feature that would make their experience better.

Here’s why user feedback is incredibly valuable:

User feedback helps you improve usability. Sometimes, what makes sense to you as a developer doesn't work out so well for the people actually using your products. Feedback helps you see these issues and fix them. It also lets you catch and fix bugs that you might have missed, no matter how much you test.

But it also means you understand their needs better. This is crucial because it guides you in building your applications to meet those needs effectively. Often, users come up with amazing ideas for new features or improvements that you might not have considered.

How To Gather User Feedback

I explained above how important user feedback is, now lets look at how to gather it.

Start with surveys. After users interact with your app, send them a brief survey. This can be done immediately after they complete an action in your app or through a follow-up email. Surveys are extremly good for gaining a broad understanding of user experiences and identifying common trends or issues.

Implement feedback forms. Place feedback forms both within your app and on your website. This gives users a convenient way to express their thoughts at any moment. It not only helps you gather continuous feedback but also engages users more deeply with your development process.

Conduct user testing sessions. Invite users to test specific features while you watch their behavior in the app. This method allows you to see firsthand how they navigate your app, providing insights into usability issues that might not be very clear through other forms of feedback.

If possible, shadow your users. watching users in their natural environment, whether in person or through video calls, can offer invaluable insights. This method lets you watch as they use your app in real situations. You can ask questions and gather immediate feedback on their experience, which can lead to more understanding.

Some of the tools that might help you: Google Forms, Typeform, usertesting.com

How I Integrate Feedback into Development

Analyzing Feedback First, I look at all the user comments and see what issues come up a lot. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of what users are saying. This helps me figure out what parts of the app need work.

Prioritizing Changes I can’t fix everything at once, so I choose what to fix first based on how big the problem is and how quickly it needs fixing. I chat with my product manager or designer to make sure we agree on what to do first.

Implementing Changes Then, we start making the changes. Some fixes are quick; others might take longer. We always aim to make the app better based on what users have told us.

This way, I make sure we're really listening to our users and making the app better for them.

Challenges of Using User Feedback

Here are some challenges I’ve faced and how I handle them:

Conflicting Feedback Sometimes, one user says they love something, and another says they hate it. When this happens, I look for more feedback to see which opinion is more common. I also check how these changes would fit with the overall design and goals of the app.

Unrealistic Expectations Users sometimes ask for features that aren’t really possible with our current setup or budget. When this happens, I focus on explaining why certain things can’t be done right now and suggest alternative solutions. It’s all about being honest and clear with users about what we can do.

Handling These Challenges To handle these challenges, communication is key. I make sure to talk things over with my team so we can decide together how to move forward. We also keep our users in the loop, especially if we can’t meet their requests.

Conclusion

Using user feedback is very important when making websites or apps. It helps us see our work from the user's point of view. This feedback helps us improve things, fix problems, and add new features that users want.

Remember, it's not just about getting feedback; it's about really listening and making changes based on what users tell us. Whether through surveys or talking directly to users, every piece of feedback can make your project better.

By paying attention to what users like and don't like, we can make apps and websites that really help and please them. Let's keep listening and improving based on user feedback.