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Why I Love Frontend Masters
- Authors
- Name
- Manuel Sousa
- @mlrcbsousa
Frontend Masters (FEM) has been a go-to platform in my learning journey ever since I found out about it from the Web Summit goodies and the GitHub Student Developer Pack. FEM’s expertly curated courses bring high-quality learning experiences that are dense, practical, and insightful.
This article explores why I am committed to using FEM to refine my skills across various domains, from Vue.js to Rust, and lists some favorite courses for future growth.
Why I Love Frontend Masters for Developer Growth
FEM courses are distinct in their compact, rich content that emphasizes real-world application. Here’s why I believe they stand out:
- Concise & Practical: Courses span 4–8 hours, fitting into a day’s study or a weekend session. They’re dense with actionable knowledge, and I can follow along at my own pace.
- Top-Notch Instructors: Courses are taught by industry leaders from companies like Netflix, Stripe, and Netlify. Many of the instructors are open-source contributors, bringing a wealth of experience directly to the lessons.
- Hands-On Learning: Most courses come with public repositories or code-along sessions, helping cement what’s learned through practical implementation.
Advanced Vue.js Techniques
As a TypeScript developer exploring Vue, I’m drawn to advanced Vue.js courses to enhance my ability to build robust UIs. I want to strengthen my skills in production-grade Vue applications with best practices that can make our user interfaces efficient and maintainable.
Course Recommendations:
- A deep dive into Production level Vue, component design, testing, state and routing.
- Another by Vue core team member Ben Hong: Great for reinforcing my Vue foundation, especially with Vue 3’s updates.
- This course is essential for integrating TypeScript into my Vue projects, a valuable skill as TypeScript becomes more prominent in modern JS frameworks.
TypeScript Mastery
I want to take my TypeScript knowledge to the next level to write cleaner, safer, and more maintainable code. FEM has a set of “hard parts” courses that help tackle the most challenging parts of JavaScript and TypeScript.
Course Recommendations:
- Will Sentance covers JS fundamentals in-depth, providing a solid foundation for TypeScript.
- Learn the ins and outs of async programming in JavaScript.
- Bridges TypeScript’s frontend and backend potential, with practical applications for API development.
- Advanced strategies for managing large codebases and working in teams.
Rust for Web Development
Rust is increasingly being used in web development, and as a TypeScript developer, I’m excited to explore Rust’s memory safety and performance benefits. Courses here will support my ongoing learning in low-level languages, especially since some of our backend developers use Rust for algorithmic trading.
Course Recommendations:
- An ideal course to compare and understand how different languages approach similar problems.
- This course covers WASM, bridging the gap between Rust and browser-based applications.
- ThePrimeagen tailors for TypeScript developers to understand Rust concepts with relatable TypeScript parallels.
Infrastructure as Code
Infrastructure knowledge is essential as I work on deployment and integration processes. By learning infrastructure as code (IaC), I aim to optimize our deployment flows and automate repetitive tasks, all while integrating GitLab’s CI/CD pipelines.
Course Recommendations:
- A practical guide for front-end developers to understand AWS services.
- As Vite’s popularity grows, this course is useful for front-end project builds, helping streamline the build process for modern web projects.
GitLab Pipelines
CI/CD automation is critical for efficient software delivery, especially when working with distributed teams. Mastering GitLab Pipelines will help me improve testing, building, and deployment workflows.
Course Recommendation:
- This course covers Docker basics and containerization, helping streamline our CI/CD processes.
Expanding Web Capabilities
Understanding the full range of browser APIs is essential for building powerful and responsive web applications. This course provides insights into using advanced browser features to enhance the functionality and user experience of our front-end applications.
Course Recommendations:
- Explore advanced browser APIs, from device capabilities to offline storage, with this comprehensive guide to modern web features.
Performance Optimization
Optimized frontend performance is crucial for delivering fast, responsive UIs, especially for traders. This topic helps streamline loading times and enhance the user experience.
Course Recommendation:
- Essential for fine-tuning JavaScript to boost speed and performance.
Security Best Practices
With growing security concerns, understanding and implementing security practices is a must. This course ensures our trading platform is safeguarded against common vulnerabilities.
Course Recommendation:
- Mike North teaches the essentials of securing web applications in this course.
Testing and Debugging
Testing is an integral part of software quality, and debugging is equally essential to identify and resolve issues quickly. These skills are crucial for producing stable, high-quality software.
Course Recommendation:
- This course covers managing and testing large-scale applications, essential for developing resilient UI at scale.
Fullstack Awareness
Having a broader understanding of backend development can help improve collaboration with backend engineers. These courses offer insights into fullstack development, enhancing my understanding of the systems we integrate with.
Course Recommendations:
- Covers everything from frontend to backend, providing a holistic view of web application development.
- This course covers GraphQL from basics to advanced, helping with fullstack knowledge.
Frontend Masters remains a top choice for continual learning as a developer, offering skill-specific training that truly makes a difference. FEM’s content aligns perfectly with my current goals and is also a reliable foundation for future exploration.