Link tags: hiring

A Web Component Story

I get it. React feels good and it’s sticky. But all frameworks eventually fizzle out.

Thanks to Web Components, large companies are realizing you don’t need to rebuild buttons and other UI primitives every few years. Teams don’t need to argue about frameworks anymore. You can have your cake and eat it too!

I think this may be the best long-term argument for web components:

Any org that goes all in on a single framework will eventually find themselves swimming upstream to hire talent to maintain legacy code and avoid framework rot. But you can reduce this burden (and the associated costs) by using Web Components in your design system.

Design Engineer / Front-end Developer | Clearleft

Are you a web dev that’s into progressive enhancement, accessibility, design systems, and all that good stuff?

You should come and work with me at Clearleft.

Reluctant Gatekeeping: The Problem With Full Stack | HeydonWorks

The value you want form a CSS expert is their CSS, not their JavaScript, so it’s absurd to make JavaScript a requirement.

Absolutely spot on! And it cuts both ways:

Put CSS in JS and anyone who wishes to write CSS now has to know JavaScript. Not just JavaScript, but —most likely—the specific ‘flavor’ of JavaScript called React. That’s gatekeeping, first of all, but the worst part is the JavaScript aficionado didn’t want CSS on their plate in the first place.

I Don’t Believe in Full-Stack Engineering • Robin Rendle

A good ol’ rant from Robin.

HTML and CSS and JavaScript have always been looked down upon by many engineers for their quirks. When they see a confusing and haphazardly implemented API across browsers (HTML/CSS/JS), I see a swarming, writhing, and constantly improving interface that means we can read stuff that was written fifteen years ago and our browsers can still parse it.

Before jumping to conclusions, read the whole thing. Robin isn’t having a go at people who consider themselves full-stack developers; he’s having a go at the people who are only hiring back-end developers and expecting them to automatically be “full stack.”

Random thoughts and data on hiring from recent experience by Chris Coyier

I recently put the call out for freelance front-end devs on Twitter, and my experience mirrors Chris’s.

Not having a personal website was a turn-off. I don’t know if it matters industry-wide or not, but I’m one person with my own opinions and I’m the one making the call so it mattered here. A personal website is the clearest place I can get a sense of your taste, design ability, and writing ability.

Really Bad Design Exercises || Matthew Ström: designer & developer

This is a fun—and useful—way of improving the interview process. The Rubik’s Cube examples brought a smile to my face.

The Five-Tool Designer » Mike Industries

Mike lists five tool skills he looks for in a designer (not that every designer needs to have all five):

1. Visual Design & Animation
2. Interaction Design
3. Getting Things Done
4. Teamwork
5. Leadership

Swap the first one out for some markup and CSS skills, and I reckon you’ve got a pretty good list for developers too.