Resources
Here is a list of tech resources I have found to be useful, with a brief description of each. I use these to keep my knowledge up-to-date and keep learning, which can be tough in the front end space, given it’s moving so quickly!
Podcasts
I go for walks at lunchtime and sometimes stick on a tech podcast to keep me company, though if we’re being honest, it’s more likely to be a nice audiobook. Breaks from work are important!
Syntax.fm
This is a podcast all about web development, hosted by Wes Bos, Scott Tolinski and CJ Reynolds. It covers all sorts of topics from new frameworks to AI to JavaScript features. I find it a bit “tech bro”-y at times, but the information is good and I’ve learned a lot from listening to this podcast.
Check them out at Syntax - Web Development Podcast
Front end happy hour
I’ve been listening to this one for years and it’s always got good content - it used to have a drinking theme, with guests having to drink a bit of their chosen drink when the word of the day was said, but this seems to have fallen away a bit lately and it’s not worse for it! I particularly enjoyed the Front End Happy Hour episode on being a better ally as a leader.
Check them out at https://www.frontendhappyhour.com/
The pragmatic engineer
Software engineering at Big Tech and startups, from the inside. This podcast features deep dives with experienced engineers and tech professionals who share their hard-earned lessons, interesting stories and advice they have on building software.
Check them out at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzwJJv8h-iciW53inSOkQA4mkG8TuQAUh
Mailing lists
There’s a bunch of useful mailing lists out there that will help you keep abreast of the latest developments in tech. I subscribe to a load of these so that the latest news can be brought to me rather than me having to go hunt for it. I share anything useful with my colleagues, so they can learn too!
| Name | Description |
| Bytes.dev | Humourously written and full of useful tidbits, Bytes is the newsletter I most often reach for when it comes to new developments |
| ByteByteGo | Often have useful summaries of high level technical concepts; particularly liked their explanation of a recent GCP outage |
| Josh Comeau | Josh’s mailing list always includes incredible front-end tips. Looking for the latest cool CSS techniques or some juicy tidbit about React? Join this mailing list, you won’t regret it! |
| Friday Front-End | A weekly mailing list of front-end related links; I often find some useful gems in there |
| Frontend Focus | Another weekly front end mailing list - I know it feels like there’s a lot of the same kind of thing here but between them all I feel like I keep abreast of what’s going on in the front end world |
| JavaScript Weekly | For a more JavaScript focused view, i.e. not necessarily front end but more about the language itself, you’ll want JavaScript Weekly |
| React Status | For React-specific news, I look at React Status |
| The Pragmatic Engineer | Always has interesting general tech stories and has a podcast as well, so you can listen to some audio if you prefer |
| Web Design Weekly | More of a web design newsletter rather than programming, but as front end developers, we still need to keep up-to-date with this stuff |
| The Smashing email newsletter | Smashing Magazine has a newsletter - I’ve only just signed up so I can’t vouch for the content yet, but if it’s anything like their website, it’ll be well worth it! |
CSS
I find that the best way to learn a thing is to use it and if you can have fun while you’re doing it, even better! Check out these CSS games:
CSS Diner - https://flukeout.github.io/
Flexbox Froggy - https://flexboxfroggy.com/
Flexbox Adventure - https://codingfantasy.com/games/flexboxadventure
Grid Garden - https://cssgridgarden.com/
JavaScript
Functional programming - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0zVEGEvSaeEd9hlmCXrk5yUyqUag-n84 (Fun Fun Function)