Forem: Maks Akymenko

How I Explain to My Grandma That I Am a Frontend Developer

Maks Akymenko — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 11:23:43 +0000

I've been a frontend developer for over two years. At times I found myself in situations where I had to explain what I do to people who know nothing about programming. So now I'm giving my best to clarify how lines of code typed on my keyboard are transformed into something you can see, click and even use in your day-to-day life.

Let's start from basics — programming.

We all speak some language. We use it for a lot of things, but, generally, we use it for communication. The same thing works with computers.

We want to make them do something for us — we communicate with them. Unfortunately, computers don't speak English yet, however, they use something that is called "machine code", simply put, the language of computers. So skipping some details, we may say, that programming is when you can tell the computer what to do by speaking their language. That is clearer now, isn't it?

What language do you speak?

We figured out that we need to speak some language that computer can understand, but what is that language?

There is more than one language we can use. All of them serve the same purpose — to turn our thoughts into something a computer can understand. Why more than one, you might ask. Here is the answer: each of them serves a different purpose. They are just tools, and we usually choose different ones depending on the goal we want to achieve.

Let's take, for instance, a car and a bicycle. They both have wheels, take us to the desired destination — but evidently, we use them for different purposes. You’d probably decide to use a car instead of a bicycle if you want to go to another country unless you want to burn thousands of calories. In programming, it's the same, but burned calories are equal to hours you spend on your work. You don't want to spend thousands of them, right?

In general, one language is better for analyzing data and forecasting, another one — for calculations and statistics, yet another one — for building websites, applications and so on.

Getting closer.

Alright, I guess everything is still quite clear for you, so let's get to something more specific, that I do personally. We'll talk about creating website's and application's interfaces. They are, simply, parts that you see when using any website. That is called frontend development. We finally get to the part, where I'll explain in simple words, what I do every day.

HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

Have you ever wondered how the browser works? How can we watch movies, listen to music, read the news on a portal, play games and perform many activities, just by typing anything in a search bar?

Behind the scenes, three core things make it happen — HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I know, things are getting complicated, so let's take a look at this simple example.

Imagine a play button in your music player. The button itself — that's HTML element.

HTML is used for adding content onto the page such as text, images, links, and even videos. For example, HTML would allow you to put a play button in a certain position on your webpage.

Following on from the example above, CSS would allow you to change the size, color, and style of the button you added with HTML.

However, when you want to interact with said button and perform some actions, for instance, music to start playing, message to be sent or log in somewhere — this is the work of JavaScript. It can be used along with HTML and CSS.

Also, JavaScript is often used separately, when it comes to creating in-browser games, programs, and even mobile applications, which makes knowledge of this language a very powerful skill.

Frontend developer.

To put things simply, JavaScript is designed to make frontend development easier and more attractive. In most cases, JavaScript is used to create responsive, interactive elements for web pages, that improve the user experience. Things like menus, animations, video players, interactive maps can be created quickly and easily with JavaScript.

Everything you've read above, that's what we, as frontend developers do. We are responsible for creating those elements, putting them all together and making them interact with each other. We are the builders of the part of the web, that you can see with your own eyes. We are the guys, who know how to speak with computers:)

Another great thing about programming: many people think that it is is about logic and mathematics only, however, it is also about creativity, problem-solving and thinking two steps ahead. It also requires us to be constant learners, to teach ourselves to think ahead and to be able to focus on something. We need to be patient, especially when it comes to solving complex problems, and to be ready to learn new things every day.

Let's sum it up.

I hope, now it is more clear to you who are frontend developers are and what they do. Moreover, if you’re a frontend dev then it would be easier for you to explain to your grandma what exactly it is that you do on computers whole day:)

How I Boost My Productivity as a Programmer

Maks Akymenko — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 14:26:13 +0000

Hello, everyone!

It happened, that my profession requires me to develop myself, boost skills and improve knowledge every day.

But honestly, this article is not only about the profession, but it is also about your time management, consumption of information, and becoming a better version of yourself every day.

So here is the list of productivity tips or habits, that help me be more productive both personally and at work.

Keep balance

There always should be a middle ground in your productivity, as everywhere.It's important to keep your eagerness to learn and at the same time prevent yourself from burning out.

To do it, remember about having rest and balance between your work and life.

A fresh mind always remembers better.

This habit was very important to me. When I started learning to program, without absolutely any knowledge of it at all, I was spending almost 10 hours a day practicing and studying. Of course, I was focused on the goal to find my first job, although I made a rule for myself: once a week I would toggle programming off of my life and do whatever I want, that is not related to coding.

It helped me avoid burnout and also continue learning in that tempo during the next couple of months and get my first job in IT.

I now work full time as a frontend developer but I have continued practicing that habit. Usually, for the whole weekend, I switch the toggle, however during the week I usually spend an extra hour or two studying and practicing new things.

Watch YouTube and listen to audiobooks on double (2x)speed

It requires some time to get used to it, but later on, it will save you plenty of time. Especially when it comes to twenty-hours audiobooks, YouTube tutorials or courses that last forty hours. Those, you always wanted to watch but didn't have time.

Also, the constant practice of this technique will make you a fast learner. Start from 1.5x and keep increasing it. Once you are there, you will not want to go back.

That was also the way I got used to it. I started with 1.5x speed up watching Udemy and Wes Bos courses and step-by-step, moved to 1.75x and then ended up at 2x. Now I check every video player, whether it has that speed up button or use the Chrome extension for it.

Practice what you've just learned

The theory is good as you might learn a lot, but practice makes your knowledge a reusable skill.

It's pretty obvious, practicing a lot will constantly make you better, whether we talk about driving a car, playing guitar or programming.

So right after you learned a new thing — build a small app using it, studied a new algorithm — solve some tasks implementing it, or even find some way to implement it in your day-to-day life.

While learning JavaScript I wanted to give it a try in some real-world situation, so I wrote a small script that was declining invitations on LinkedIn from IT recruiters which were without messages. That was interesting, fun and what's most important — helpful. Until now I have remembered that script.

Filter content in social networks, YouTube

There is so much noise around us, and we don't want our head to explode because of a glut of it. That's where filtering comes in.

Hide everything that doesn't inspire you and keep only useful and interesting topics in your feeds. This will allow you to concentrate and focus on something you are interested in.

From a programmers point of view, it's great because you'll be able to focus on information that is useful for you.

For instance, I had almost 50 channels on YouTube before. Now I have about 15 of them, which are only about topics I'm interested in, whether those are coding tutorials, traveling or technology channels.

No matter Youtube or any social network, they have a lot of junk content, so filtering helps me find new channels. I've got three rules for them:

Every video must be a quality shot with details to composition, views, etc.
Speaker or author must be professional in his industry.
Whatever channel is about — I should learn something from it.

Listen to an audiobook/podcast while doing anything else

We all know why reading is useful, but in some situations, it's more convenient to listen. For instance, when you walk somewhere, stand in a shaking tram/bus, cook, even while working out. That is where audiobook/podcast on your phone becomes handy.

Here come all the advantages of reading books — doing two things at a time.

Once I caught myself thinking that I stopped reading books, because of the lack of time. Honestly, I like reading, so I needed to figure out the way to continue. That's when I tried audiobook for the first time and from that moment most of the books I put to my collection are audio ones. Especially when I started practicing double speed there as well, I realized that I listened faster than I read.

So two habits connected and strengthened up each other to help me spend my time more efficiently and meanwhile, learn and discover new things.

Summary

Hope, those productivity tips will help you become more efficient, learn faster, grow as a professional and, of course, boost your productivity!

It might not work the same way for you. What works for one, doesn't work for all, however, I suggest you give it try!

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!