Web Perspectives: Recent Episodes
Sean G
The ins and outs of the day-to-day life as a front-end web developer, from the most minute details to the most technical gotchas.
How do you know when it's time to quit your designer or web developer job? What do signs of gaslighting and verbal abuse look like in the workplace. Matej Latin, author of betterwebtype.com, shares the crucial turning points of his designer career from corporate banking to GitLab to his self-led journey, coaching thousands of aspiring designers.
Links:
- Medium (Matej Latin): How my Dream Designer Job Turned into a Nightmare Job
- betterwebtype.com design course by Matej Latin
- Matej Latin on LinkedIn
- Matej Latin's website
Timestamps:
- 0:02:25 - Economics to Design: WTF?
- 0:05:11 - Gitlab's #1 practice for remote work
- 0:10:27 - Remote's Impact on Teams: Good or Bad?
- 0:16:12 - Collaboration Secrets for Remote Teams
- 0:20:56 - Engineers and Designers: BFFs?
- 0:26:10 - Designers: Speak Up!
- 0:35:25 - Flat Orgs: Dream or Nightmare?
- 0:40:20 - Dream Job Becomes Hell
- 0:50:57 - Toxic Positivity & Gaslighting at Work
- 0:53:43 - Side Hustles While Working Full-Time
- 0:57:37 - Fix Your Damn Portfolio
- 1:00:55 - Job Interviews: Don't Be a Sheep
- 1:06:42 - When to Say "F it" and Quit*
- 1:08:57 - The Importance of Passion in Your Work
- 1:10:16 - How to Find Your Dream Design Job
- 1:11:37 - The Importance of Mentorship for Designers
- 1:12:26 - The Importance of Transparency and Expectations
- 1:13:49 - The Myth of "Hitting the Ground Running"
What are the best ways to learn full-stack web development? Muhannad Nouri, full-stack developer at Enverus, shares with us his #1 tip for leveraging YouTube, TikTok, and X to enhance his full-stack learning.
Timestamps
- 01:43: Do you need a computer science degree to be a web developer? Muhannad shares his experience.
- 04:37: The #1 tip for new web developers to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
- 09:15: ChatGPT and Copilot: essential tools for modern web development?
- 12:18: The secret to learning new web technologies without burning out.
- 18:15: Social media: Friend or foe for web developers?
- 33:38: How to stay informed without drowning in newsletters.
- 45:46: Is LinkedIn still relevant for tech professionals?
- 50:49: The job hunt: How to make your resume stand out in a crowded market.
- 53:13: How to get that first web development interview.
- 57:45: Networking when you're not looking for a job.
- 01:12:05: The highs and lows of web development: What keeps us coming back for more?
- 01:23:03: Convincing your boss to adopt new tech: Muhannad's proven strategy.
- 01:31:07: The Angular vs. React debate: Which framework is right for you?
- 01:38:02: The art of mentorship: How to guide others without holding them back.
- 01:43:04: Pair programming: Valuable even for experienced developers?
- 01:50:02: How to get that first web development interview.
- 01:57:45: Networking when you're not looking for a job.
- 02:01:31: Where to find Muhannad online.
- 02:01:48: Muhannad's parting words of wisdom.
Links
- Muhannad Nouri: LinkedIn
- Dr. Tony Tang: University of Calgary
Dan Stevenson, a seasoned instructor at SAIT, demystifies the complexities of web development. Dan emphasizes the significance of mastering fundamental web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript while highlighting the importance of continuous learning and adaptation in the face of evolving trends. He delves into the challenges of balancing innovation with accessibility and performance in web design, offering valuable insights and practical tips for aspiring and experienced web developers alike. The discussion further explores the role of AI in web development, the advantages and disadvantages of using frameworks, and the crucial role of soft skills in career success.
Links:
- SAIT Interactive Design - Web Design and Development Major
- SAIT Student for a Day:
https://www.sait.ca/programs-and-courses/student-for-a-day - Dan's website:
https://danstephenson.ca - Dan's podcast: Fireside chat: https://www.firesidechat.ca/
What is web accessibility, and why does it matter? Daryl Suttie, accessibility enthusiast, answers our questions about accessibility gotchas and illustrates how we can promote web accessibility and "sell" it to large software companies.
Timestamps
- [00:01:00]: Daryl's Background - Accidental accessibility specialist; held roles in design, development, product management, QA; now advocates passionately for web accessibility
- [00:03:24]: Accessibility Laws and Regulations - Current state in Canada, US, Europe; accessibility becomes hotter topic in coming years
- [00:06:49]: Accessibility Debt - Exceeds general technical debt; often unchecked upfront; much costlier to fix later than baking in from start
- [00:09:00]: TV Remote Analogy - TV remote navigation parallels keyboard-only web browsing; relatable way to build empathy for these users
- [00:18:00]: Screen Reader User Diversity - Benefits many beyond blind users - those with low vision, dyslexia, cognitive issues, distractibility; many lack power user skills
- [00:35:53]: Manual Testing Importance - Value of manual accessibility checks, even quick tab review; catches issues automation misses; some manual testing critical
- [00:41:19]: Expanding Accessibility Knowledge - How to stay updated on best accessibility practices; constant learning curve even for experts
- [00:51:07]: Growing Accessibility Demand - Increased demand predicted as more jurisdictions tighten regulations; uptick in RFPs requiring accessibility
- [00:51:51]: Reach Out to Daryl - Connect on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/darylsuttie for accessibility questions, website audits, or to learn about his accessibility journey
- [00:53:07]: Accessibility Barriers Unintentional - Most accessibility barriers stem from lack of awareness rather than malice; still problematic and important to address
- [01:04:00]: Form Interactions and Accessibility - Challenges with instant form submissions; separate actions for option changes and form submission; avoid unexpected context shifts
- [01:10:27]: Neglect of HTML Fundamentals - Developers often lack HTML knowledge; over-reliance on CSS and JS; semantic HTML benefits accessibility
- [01:17:00]: Daryl's Journey into Accessibility - From early HTML dabbling to accessibility-focused roles; fueled by passion for inclusivity and better user experiences
- [01:36:33]: Business Case for Accessibility - Opportunities in serving untapped user segments; competitive advantage; sticky users; millions with disabilities
- [01:40:25]: Responding to Accessibility Pushback - Incremental improvements over perfection; celebrate small wins; 10% progress still meaningful; ratchet up gradually
- [01:44:41]: Keeping Up with Evolving Standards - Continuous learning essential; even experts encounter knowledge gaps; importance of referencing latest documentation
- [01:46:41]: Accessibility in B2B Contexts - Readiness to adapt if needed; quick wins possible with focused training; direct user feedback critical
- [01:49:00]: Rising Frequency of Accessibility Requests - Increasing RFPs with accessibility requirements, especially in public sector; accessibility gaining visibility across industries
Links
- Daryl Suttie LinkedIn
- https://makeitfable.com/
- https://inclusive.microsoft.design/
- https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/developing-websites-accessibility-getting-started
Sub-sea cables make the internet possible today, but what about the data centres they connect to? Take a look inside the operations of what happens inside "colo" or "metro" centres that keep the internet fast and efficient via "peering". Coral Taylor Bliss of Equinix, which manages over 112 data centres worldwide, gives us the inside scoop on what it takes to run some of the world's most critical infrastructure.
- Coral Taylor Bliss (LinkedIn)
- Equinex Website
Timestamps:
- 00:01:36 - Introduction of guest Coral Bliss Taylor
- 00:02:23 - Coral talks about her background
- 00:03:09 - Overview of Equinix and its founding principles
- 00:04:21 - Explanation of internet peering
- 00:07:37 - Importance of physical internet infrastructure
- 00:08:06 - How internet infrastructure enables web development
- 00:13:25 - Difference between Equinix and public cloud providers
- 00:45:25 - Equinix's platform and how customers utilize it
- 00:57:08 - Cost comparisons between Equinix, owning your own data centers, and public clouds
- 01:02:35 - Equinix Fabric for connecting data centers and clouds
- 01:06:10 - Equinix's ecosystem of connected networks and services
- 01:07:41 - Internet connectivity challenges in some countries
- 01:13:01 - Impact of satellite internet like Starlink
- 01:14:29 - Excitement about AI and internet-enabled entrepreneurship
- 01:16:00 - Sustainability considerations with aggregated data centers
- 01:22:19 - Where to connect with Coral / Equinix
Kevin Powell gives out his #1 tip on learning and teaching CSS. How can you keep up to date with all the new CSS features coming? Should you still use Bootstrap? What about Tailwind? CSS in JS? How do you CSS in 2023?
Learn how Kevin got started with web development and teaching CSS. Hear his perspective on using frameworks like Bootstrap and Tailwind to learn. Get insights on the challenges beginners face when starting with CSS and how to overcome them.
Discover Kevin's approach to using CSS tools and frameworks in projects. Find out his tips for structuring HTML to support styles. Learn about semantic HTML and accessibility best practices.
Get the inside scoop on starting a YouTube channel, podcast, and online courses. Hear Kevin's pain points with CSS units and lack of colour mix support.
- Kevin Powell on YouTube
- Kevin Powell's Newsletter
- Kevin Powell's Podcast
- Kevin's Website
Timestamps
- (00:04:04 - 00:07:04) How Kevin got started with web development and teaching it
- (00:07:04 - 00:10:04) Kevin's experience using CSS frameworks like Bootstrap to learn
- (00:10:04 - 00:15:04) The challenges of learning CSS for beginners
- (00:15:04 - 00:18:04) Kevin's approach to using CSS frameworks and tools
- (00:18:04 - 00:24:04) Building your own learning management system vs using a platform
- (00:24:04 - 00:29:04) How to structure HTML to support styles
- (00:29:04 - 00:35:04) Semantic HTML and accessibility practices
- (00:35:04 - 00:44:04) Kevin's YouTube channel and creating content
- (00:44:04 - 00:47:04) Starting a podcast and newsletters
- (00:47:04 - 00:54:04) Making YouTube a full-time job
- (00:54:04 - 01:02:04) Kevin's tips for CSS
- (01:02:04 - end) Pain points with CSS units and lack of color mix suppor
AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Azure... the list goes on. But how hard is it to migrate an existing tech stack to the cloud? Heman Tailor, director of IT at SCA Interactive, gives us the lowdown on the pros, cons, challenges of migrating his infrastructure from on-prem to AWS.
Josh Collinsworth wrote a blog post about why ReactJS is outdated and which technologies to try instead, and we wanted to learn more. Why has ReactJS remained the king of front-end frameworks, and what can we do about it? What about frameworks like Svelte, Vue, and Astro? View transitions API as per Astro along with some life advice on how to choose a front-end framework in your next project.
- Josh Collinsworth on Mastadon
- Fresh framework for Deno
- Quina word game
- Hondo word game
- VueJS interactive demo
- Pass the Pigs game
- PWA builder
- Tauri Rust framework
Andrii Borovskyi discusses Functional Programming in JavaScript and TypeScript and why it still remains unpopular, despite ReactJS' functional components. What is functional programming, and how can teams adopt it? Can we really stop debugging altogether by using functional programming? Andrii tells his story of how he got into web development and how he sees the future of web technologies progressing with functional programming
Timestamps 0:00:00 Intro 0:00:26 Andrii's story on how he decided to pursue web development 0:03:27 Why can we call ourselves software architects, but not engineers 0:06:26 Is CSS a programming language... yet? 0:07:04 Cross-continent hitch hiking and getting started with HTML and CSS 0:11:34 Learning Javascript while on the road 0:13:50 First job 0:15:11 Andrii's career path and making difficult decisions 0:18:43 Sean's career and self taught vs engineers 0:22:05 Be patient: Team leads can have bad days too 0:22:38 RTFM is the worst 0:23:18 Functional programming, let's go 0:32:30 OOP vs FP 0:41:51 How to identify side effects 0:42:47 Functional composition 0:43:56 Reusability 0:45:29 Refactoring I 0:51:51 Naming functions 1:10:01 Private methods in OOP as an example of side effects 1:14:40 Refactoring II getting in and out of trouble 1:20:40 React flavour 1:26:16 Imutability of props and arguments 1:28:16 Leaky Abstractions 1:28:06 Refactoring III DRY 1:29:39 Refactoring the team away from OOP 1:32:48 Composition vs inheritance 1:37:56 Wrap up and connections
Is .NET still a thing? Has it caught up with other full-stack frameworks like NEXT, NUXT, SvelteKit, and Remix? Philip Young comes on the show, drawing from his 10+ years' experience as yoga practitioner and software developer to give us the inside scoop on .NET and mindfulness.
What challenges do women face in the tech industry? Kylie Woods & April Hicke discuss the barriers to entry for women and the story of why Kylie decided to close down Chiq Geek.
- ChicGeek
- TryToast
- April Hicke (LinkedIn)
TryToast promo code FIRSTFREE to get your first month free at TryToast.
Allie Knull joins us to discuss why resumes are so outdated and how to get your next best tech job without using your resume.
Do resumes really matter that much? How about job experience? When should you negotiate a salary? Is there such a thing as being "overqualified" for a job? Allie tells us all this, and more.
- Allie Knull on LinkedIn
- Allie Knull on TikTok
- ResumeFree
How can web developers improve their documentation skills? How important is it for software development businesses to hire technical writers as opposed to offloading the responsibility to web developers? Mitch Willis, long-time technical writer, joins us to explore the reasons to hire a technical writer specialist, for both large and small teams.
What's life like as a digital nomad? What are the pros and cons of living abroad in digital nomad cities like Bali and Chengdu? How much sense does it make to pack our bags and work remotely as a web developer, given that most jobs allow remote work? Ryan Hnetka, a long-time working nomad with over 20 years of experience as a digital nomad, gives us the lowdown on the ins and outs of the digital nomad lifestyle.
As software developers, what can we do to understand our emotions? Does coaching help, and how much does "self-help" actually matter in the workplace to maximize our workplace efficiency? Cami Travis-Groves, a former graphic designer, and now life coach, shares with us her steps to understanding and making sense of difficult emotions in and outside of the workplace.
Cami Travis-Groves (LinkedIn)
Cami's Pyramid of Emotions
Cami's Upcoming Men's (pay-what-you-want) workshop
What role do PMs (project managers) play in software projects, and what techniques do they use to create successful software releases? Mark Dodd, long-time PM at Koncept, walks us through his process of managing project scope, meeting best practices, and how to involve key stakeholders into software projects.
- What is a stakeholder? How do stakeholders differ from investors?
- What happens when a stakeholder doesn't want to be involved in a software project?
- How can we best determine key stakeholders in software projects?
- What is risk mitigation, and how can we pre-emptively deal with bugs and stakeholder issues prior to ending a sprint?
- What's the difference between agile and what PMs do? Should all PMs know or practice agile? How important is agile to project managers?
- What does a great retrospective look like? What strategies do PMs use to conduct successful retrospectives?
Connect with Mark Dodd on LinkedIn.
What are Verifiable Credentials (VC) and how can web developers leverage the new W3C specification to build out future-proof authentication solutions? How do Verifiable Credentials differ from traditional OAuth providers like with Google, Meta, or Microsoft, and how can we reclaim our independence with technologies with VCs? What's the future of Blockchain and Web3 applications?
- Robert Forget (LinkedIn)
- Credivera
- Join our Discord!
What's causing all the layoffs in the tech industry? How can we use AI and ChatGPT to supercharge our resumes and cater them to job postings? How important are job postings anyway? Stephen Wensley, from Acuspire shares with us his insights from parsing 1000s of resumes using AI on what you can do right now to simplify your job search.
- ChatGPT and how it has taken off
- What AI means for web developers. Will we lose our jobs to ChatGPT and AI?
- How important is catering your resume to a job description as opposed to networking in-person? What works best to find jobs?* * Why 60% or more of jobs are never posted, and why you may not want to apply conventionally
"One more thing". We always have one more thing to do in software development -- whether our customer asks us for one more feature, or we task ourselves with going beyond the requirements, the challenge remains: how much is enough?
What is overengineering? How do we know when our software is ready to launch? When customers can always come back to us with more work -- one more thing -- when do we know when to stop adding more features? How can we reduce scope creep in our projects while still overdelivering? Does it even make sense to overdeliver? What "one more thing"s make sense as developers, and what does overengineering even look like?
What is technical debt in software development, and how do we manage it? Does it make sense to try to avoid technical debt or to accept it with open arms and consider it a core part of software development? How do we approach adding more tools to our front-end stacks?
What strategies work best for debugging websites and web applications? What tools and processes do we use to find the sources of bugs? Topics include:
- Front-end frameworks and view libraries
- Debugging browser extension bugs
- Reading bugs and understanding customer bug reports
- Differentiating between a feature and a bug
- Typescript as a debugging tool with TSNode
Men's coach Mike Cameron discusses how to engage with ourselves emotionally. What does emotional intelligence mean, and how we leverage it to communicate more effectively in the workplace? With web development technologies changing so rapidly, how can we ground ourselves and feel confident in our modern web development practices? What makes an emotionally grounded web developer? Do emotions even matter in a logical, error-driven industry? And most importantly, what can we do right now to communicate our desires to co-workers and to inspire them?
What is a state manager? Does it make web development more complicated, or are they worth the pain? Mike and Sean take a look at state managers like VueX, Redux, Redux Saga, MobX, and ember data to find out how much more cruft and configuration they add to existing projects. If we choose to not use state managers, what can we do to future-proof our careers? What is the future of web development? Is web web development essential work?
- How can we manage state in web applications? State managers?
- What makes the web tick? Servers? Should you learn to run servers? What about hypervisors like Proxmox?
- WebAR: what is it, and what are its applications?
- TypeScript: where does it fit in? Is it worth learning?
- Bluetooth: why does it suck?
- Is Javascript terrible, or is it due for a replacement? Dead languages like Cobal, Pascal, etc.
- How can we support open-source projects and the libraries we use?
Join us, as we interview Al Degan on post-pandemic networking for new and existing entrepreneurs in the tech industry. Al Degan gives us the rundown of the Calgary entrepreneurship and incubator/accelerator space in post-panemic Alberta. He also talks about Rainforest Alberta, and how they work with Platform Calgary to promote and build Calgary's emerging entrepreneurship tech scene.
What goes on behind the scenes in web development bootcamps? How do instructors keep up-to-date with the latest technologies and request updates to the curriculum? How do web development bootcamps pack everything students need to know into 3-month programs? Join us as we interview Andy Lindsay, lead instructor at Lighthouse Labs.
- Andy Lindsay (LinkedIn)
- Andy Lindsay's Github
- Lighthouse Labs Web Development Bootcamp
What does the Python programming language have to offer web developers? How does it compare to Javascript? Author, writer, and creator of pythonmorsels.com, Trey Hunner, compares Python to Javascript, and showcases how new and experienced web developers can leverage the Python ecosystem, from Django to Flask, to create rich web applications.
Useful Links 1. Trey Hunner (Website) 2. Trey Hunner (Twitter) 3. Django Girls Tutorials 4. Django Official Tutorial 5. Hello Web App books 6. Will Vincent's Django Books 7. Modern Javascript for Python Developers 8. Python Morsels
What's it like to be a front-end web developer as a female in the current web development industry? What struggles do women in tech face when applying for jobs? Justine Matsala, female mentor and Senior React Developer at Logitech takes us through the ins and outs of what it means today to be a female (and all other genders on the spectrum) in the web development industry. What can we do to encourage gender diversity in the workplace -- part 1
What makes a good website? How can we keep visitors on our websites and reduce bounce rates through telling stories? What about our business goals? How can we succintly convey our business goals, with attention spans shortening every day? Do businesses even need a website in 2021?
Show Notes * michaeldargie.com * Rebel Rebel Podcast * Loose Moose Theatre (Calgary) * Loose Moose Theatre TV
What do developers need to know about "e-commerce" to start an online business? Banner ads? Google Ads? Facebook Pixel? How many images in a product page? Chat boxes, popup modals, or an overly technical specifications section? How can web dvelopers leverage Shopify's templates to quickly create online stores? Kray Mitchell from Shopify tells us the best way to structure e-commerce websites for developers and how Shopify compares to other platforms like WooCommerce, Magento, and Joomla.
Introducing the host, Sean G! Background, education, how Sean got into web development. How did Sean get into web development? Sean's philosophy on passion and passionate onboarding for teams. How did web perspectives come to be?
Founder of Calgary web development meetup Pixels, Tony Grimes discusses the future of web development bootcamps and in-person meetups amidst the raging pandemic. How to grow your web development career in a world of digital "meetups". What does the future of in-person meetups look like? Does it sill make sense to take a web bootcamp in 2021?
Pixels YYC:
https://discord.gg/EyFxsYPs
Pixels & Pints Meetup (Calgary)
https://www.meetup.com/pxandpints/
Scott Gerlach discusses what Web Security means and how to automate API security vulnerability discovery through his DAST platform, StackHawk.
- Homebrewing: API by day; IPA by night 😜
- What does web security even mean for the front-end web developer? How much responsibility do we have in ensuring security? CSP? What about NPM packages we don't maintain?
- How do large businesses deal with security breaches? How much should we prioritize web security teams, especially when budgeting is thin? What about small teams and startups?
- What does DAST offer that SCA (static code analysis) doesn't? Why opt for DAST if we already have useful tools to perform SCA testing?
What does it mean to write "simple" code, and what suggestions can we give to emerging front-end developers? How much should coding standards bog us down when we just want to get an idea out there? How much of front-end web development is just muscle memory as opposed to giving ourselves freedom of expression in our code? With a wealth of tools shoved down our throats with modern build pipelines and CI, how can we keep it simple?
What does the devOps role mean in today's competitive industry of cloud providers, serverless, and Jamstack. Why should businesses consider hiring a devOps engineer when they easily rely on third-party providers like AWS, Azure, and Netlify, and Google Cloud? What does devOps even mean in an industry when we can easily spin up full stacks in a matter of seconds using npm scripts and CLI tools like create-react-app and vue cli, affording us everything we already need as full-stack developers from development environments to staging and to production? Has full-stack development replaced the need for devOps?
A deep, meta look at how we can rework the interview process to favour candidate honesty and vulnerability. How to uncover underlying talent and passion during , and to allow candidates to be vulnerable. How can we learn, both as interviewers, and as candidates, from our past interviews to best allow applicants to showcase their talent? How do we enable candidates to open up about their passions during an interview? All this, and more, in this hour long finale on interviews.
We know the six underlying steps to display competence in an interview. but what about the mindset? How can we best answer targeted interview questions? How much is oversharing? What qualities do interviewers prefer in web developer candidates? How do the best candidates answer interview questions? How much does experience actually matter?
The most important six interviewing tips for new and aspiring developers. How should you prepare for your next job interview as a web developer? What steps should you take to stand out from the competetition? What about salaries? All this -- and more -- including special, insider information on what it's like as an interviewer from the inside. Get ready, buckle your keyboard wrist stands, and get ready to rock your next interview, in this one-hour episode of Web Perspectives.
Blog Post: Effective Job-Seeking in 8 Steps
With the easing of restrictions, post-pandemic, surrounding office work, what does the future of remote work look like? How has the industry changed now that most developers work remotely? More importantly, how can we effectively manage semi-distributed teams in a partly remote workplace while still gaining the benefits of in-person work. All this and more in this two-hour special of Web Perspectives.
What is an API? Why did our company choose to go with GraphQL over JSON:API? The differences between the JSON:API specification and the GraphQL specification; how GraphQL goes against the grain of web standards and why it does this; how RESTful is more of a buzzword. What the future of HTTP/3 looks like. HTTP emoji status codes?
In defence of tools! What tools do we recommend to new developers? How much do we rely on these tools?
- Clipboard managers
- CopyQ
- Alfred
- Snippet Managers
- Keyboard Shortcut Managers (not Linux)
- Note-Taking Apps
- Foam vs. Roam vs. Notion
- TaskCafe for task management -- or Trello or Asana
- Self-hosting and building your own task manager from TaskCafe
- AI Intellisense: Tabnine
- VNC
- RealVNC
- TreamViewer
- NoVNC
- UltraVNC
- Emulation
- Browserstack
- Parallels
- Docker
- LXC & Proxmox
- Sosoumi: instant MacOS in just a click on Linux, up to 4 times faster than native
- VSCode Live Share, JetBrains CodeTogether
- RSS Readers to supercharge newsletter subscriptions. Feedly; GReader Pro for Android
- Terminal Emulators: iTerm (MacOS), Konsole (Linux) , Cmder, ConEmu (Windows)
What makes a web page work? How do browsers work? What constraints have tools imposed on us? A primer and review on HTML and what makes an HTML document. How going back to the basics can make the differences between a customer bouncing from your web page and staying.