The art of front-end development is very broad, with lots of specific details to know. Sometimes it can be challenging to know what to focus on. With so many libraries, frameworks, and tools at your disposal, it can take a while to know what’s best for you. Keeping that in mind, I’ve put together some of the best practices I learned while developing my skills and I’d like to share them with you today.

How can you improve your programming skills?

Make your own action plan
Stay on top of the news
Peek into repositories of more experienced web developers
Make time for courses
Make time for books
Make time for videos
Participate in front-end dev conferences and events
Create projects using new skills

Let’s get into the first one!

Make your own action plan

In the beginning, try to systematically develop your frontend developer skills. Only constant progress will ensure that you grow in the knowledge of your job. Choose the right amount of time dedicated to front-end development. Each day try to devote not less than the minimum amount of time to specific activities.

Here’s an example for 1h per day to grow up your technical skills:

Your plan may be completely different from the example. But the most important thing is to remember that every day you should at least do “something”. Sometimes it will be more, sometimes less, yet it’s every day.

Being consistent in improving your front-end programming skills is very important. Ultimately, regular work will result in an increase in your skills as well as knowledge. And you can adjust your development plan to your own daily needs and habits.

Stay on top of the news

Working as a front-end developer means keeping up with the latest news about programming languages and new tools. For the sake of your development, it’s good to be updated. It’s also up to you how often you read articles related to front-end development. In this case, again, regularity is important.

I especially recommend following the websites below. The authors of the articles will help you gain new knowledge or use a new tool that you have not used before:

These are just examples of where you can find articles with news from the front-end world.

I can also recommend daily.dev plugin for your web browser. The plugin aggregates dev articles on the start page of your browser. Thanks to that, when you open a new window, you will see the latest entries from the categories you prefer.

Peek into repositories of more experienced web developers

Developing your front-end skills will also be ensured by regularly browsing popular projects and their repositories on GitHub. Analyzing code created by another programmer will help you gain new knowledge and use methods in your everyday work.

Here’s a list of the web development repos you should pay attention to:

2ality, JavaScript and more – Blog, GitHub,
David Walsh – Blog, GitHub,
Celeb Porzio – Blog, GitHub,
Kent C. Dodds – Blog, GitHub,
Dan Abramov – Blog, GitHub,
Tanner Linsley – Blog, GitHub,
Guillermo Rauch – Blog, GitHub.

Analyzing the code of the authors mentioned above will give you a different approach to the work of a front-end developer. In each of these repositories, you will find something that you will definitely be able to use in your daily work; something that will help you be a better front-end developer.

Make time for courses

In your daily schedule, don’t forget about regularly taking new courses. Most important thing is that the source of your courses is valuable and really develops your skill.

Therefore, below is a list of sites where you can find front-end courses that are prepared in an easy-to-digest way:

Each of the above places has a different approach to the learner, so choose the one that is right for you and with which you absorb easily.

Make time for books

Books are a great alternative to web courses. It all depends on your preferences. If you learn better by reading books then you should use this kind of opportunity more often. The most important thing is that you enjoy learning new web development knowledge!

There are many books on the market, starting with the basics of HTML and CSS, and ending with Vue.js, React, or Angular frameworks. Choose the ones that have a recognized brand and at the same time suit you in the message. As a result, you will find reading to be a pleasure and not a chore. You won’t always come across the right reading for you. In that case, don’t waste your time on it, just look for something that will suit your preferences.

Here is a shortlist of front-end development books worth noting:

Series “You don’t know JS” by Kyle Simpson,
“TypeScript Quickly” by Yakov Fain and Anton Moiseev,
“Programming TypeScript. Making Your JavaScript Applications Scale” by Boris Cherny,
“Effective TypeScript. 62 specific ways to improve your TypeScript” by Dan Vanderkam,
“Eloquent Javascript. A Modern Introduction to Programming” by Marijn Haverbeke,
“HTML & CSS. Design and build websites” by Jon Duckett,
“Pro MERN Stack: Full Stack Web App Development with Mongo, Express, React, and Node” by Vasan Subramanian.

Make time for videos

A very good way to learn new topics and tools is to follow the most popular front-end channels on YouTube. Nowadays, knowledge is freely available, you just need to filter it the right way. Finding the right sources will help you learn easily and enjoyably to increase your personal front-end developer level.

Front-end developers like to share their knowledge – that’s why they create YouTube channels. By this, we can easily access the news that someone has already learned. This will result in our development and the improvement of our skills at work.

Here’s a list of front-end video channels that are worth following (but I recommend finding sources that will suit best your interest):

Participate in front-end dev conferences and events

Front-end development is a big branch of programming. Therefore, we have many opportunities to participate in various conferences. We can participate in those related to the front-end in general, and we can also participate in conferences dedicated to just specific JavaScript frameworks such as Vue, React, or Angular.

Conferences are an element that won’t be in your work schedule every day. Such events are organized once a year and gather a very large group of front-end devs with whom you can exchange opinions about your daily work. Without a doubt, this kind of event should be in your best practices inventory to develop programming skills.

Create projects using new skills

Learning is essential but if you don’t use the knowledge you’ve gained, you won’t be able to consolidate it. The best possible way to implement your new skills is to create projects. Imagine something that you need in your daily work, something that could improve it, and then try to develop it.

Try to use the knowledge gained from books, courses, conferences, and videos. You will be able to continuously verify if this knowledge will be useful for you and most importantly is it going to improve your frontend development. The most important thing in this type of task is to focus on one project so that you don’t get distracted by other things. This will definitely allow you to develop your project quickly and consolidate the knowledge you have gained so far.

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Never stop learning as a web developer

Software development companies, as well as individuals, need to provide expertise with cutting-edge technologies for their clients. And to deliver exceptional web development services, developers must keep up with the newest technological advancements. It’s important to understand trends and the tools that can implement them. The web is changing. So, if you stay up with the IT news, you are on the correct track! Maintain learning habits as there will always be something you can improve on, learn more, or pick up. It’s a part of being a developer.