Issue 7

Today’s Issue: Tips to stand out as a junior developer, what React has under the hood, and make sure to apply to those jobs!

Welcome to #7.

First Up - Standing Out as a Junior Developer

There’s no denying that becoming a junior developer is a challenging yet rewarding road to embark on. From late nights to early mornings, the grind to get there is tough, but once you’ve made it, your foot is in the door, and you're now a software developer…congratulations! Now sit back get ready because the journey is just beginning.

You won’t want to stay a junior dev for too long. With each promotion comes a nice salary increase and in order to get that, you’ll need to be improving in your craft. So how do we do that?

• Share Your Knowledge

  • One of the most effective ways to increase your knowledge is to share what you know and learn with others. Everyone says that if you can teach something, you truly know it so get out there and share. This could be writing blog posts, creating tutorials, or even speaking at meetups or conferences.

  • All of this can help you build up a professional network and help carve out a path for others wanting to follow in your footsteps. Sounds like a win-win!

• Build a Strong Portfolio

  • Having a solid portfolio helps demonstrate your skills while also attracting potential employers. This is your chance to show your best projects, flex your problem-solving skills, and let your passion shine.

• Stay Curious and Continue Learning

  • Being a developer means you never stop learning. Technology moves fast so you can either move with it or get stuck in the rear view and eventually be phased out. Make sure you are always learning better and more efficient ways of doing things, whether a new language, framework, pattern or some new AI tool that makes things easier (looking at you Cursor).

• Contribute to Open-Source Projects

  • Contributing to open-source is a great way to not only showcase your skills but also connect with other developers. Plus Hacktoberfest is just around the corner and what better way to start contributing than to do it for a reward!

Second Topic - React, Pop The Hood

When you write React, you’re using JSX (JavaScript XML) which is a syntax that looks similar to HTML but works within JavaScript. React then uses a transpiler to convert JSX into standard JavaScript. This JavaScript code is what the browser ultimately interprets.

When your JSX is transformed, it turns into React.createElement() function calls which then produce React elements, which are the building blocks of a React application. Each element represents a piece of the UI.

Here’s an example:

// JSX in a React Component
const element = (
  <div>
    <h1>Hello, React!</h1>
    <p>This is a paragraph.</p>
  </div>
);

// JSX Transformed into JavaScript
const element = React.createElement(
  'div',
  null,
  React.createElement('h1', null, 'Hello, React!'),
  React.createElement('p', null, 'This is a paragraph.')
);

React takes these nested React.createElement() calls and converts them into corresponding HTML elements in the browser’s DOM.

Interesting Plugs

• EpicReact v2 just launched and although it’s expensive, I purchased v1 when it came out about 4 years ago and it helped me land the job I have today so it was definitely worth it for me. Investing in your skills is important and can easily pay off tenfold.

• Vim for React Developers - Frehttps://dly.to/eyvorfkqpZBe mini-course by Leerob

• Squads just launched on Product Hunt by the daily dev so if you haven’t yet, come join mine!

Job Board

• Frontend Developer with Gemini

  • Salary: $104,000 - $130,000

  • Experience: At least +1 year of software engineering experience

  • Tech Stack: React and TypeScript

    • If I didn’t already have a job, I’d be applying to this one immediately! Gemini is a dope company, plus CRYPTO…

• Web Developer/Designer with Array

  • Salary: $35/hr

  • Experience: Doesn’t say but it sounds like a junior position from the description so probably about a year

  • Tech Stack: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and some database experience. Also, they’d like to see some CMS and WordPress on your resume

• Front End Engineer with Greystar Living

  • Salary: Doesn’t say

  • Experience: +4 years of experience as a frontend developer

  • Tech Stack: React Native, JavaScript, TypeScript, and some iOS or Andriod experience

• Full Stack Engineer with Deepnote

  • Salary: Doesn’t say

  • Experience: Doesn’t Say

  • Tech Stack: TypeScript, React, GraphQL, Node.js, PostgreSQL, Redis, AWS

    • This job doesn’t say much about salary or experience needed but it looks like there are a bunch of perks like 25 days of PTO and a $2000 kick-start bonus to set up your remote office

• Front End Engineer with Firefox

  • Salary: Doesn’t say

  • Experience: 2+ years

  • Tech Stack: JavaScript, HTML, and CSS

Till Next Time

I’m still working on SpotMe but I’m hoping to have a usable product within the next couple of weeks so stay tuned! I’ll be sure to share the link in an upcoming newsletter once it’s ready.

Also, if anyone needs help or has questions about their resume or porfolio shoot me a message. Those jobs I posted won’t last forever so make sure to apply!

Have a great weekend and as always, happy coding!