HTML All The Things - Web Development, AI, and Developer Careers

Project planning sounds like it's the job of a project manager, but the truth is that a web developer interacts with so many parts of an online project that project management skills are crucial. When working as a freelancer, or for a small business, there might not even be a project manager on staff, leaving the web developer to manage their own team, time, and communications. Sprints/scrum and agile seem to dominate the project management space and have helped a lot of teams be successful, but as a project manager its important that you use what's right for your team. You might only be working with a few developers and a Kanban board (ie Trello) board, and if that works? Then why change it? In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss project management from the perspective of a web developer - covering how to manage stakeholders, communication channels, and organizational techniques.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/project-planning-for-web-developers

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Project planning sounds like it's the job of a project manager, but the truth is that a web developer interacts with so many parts of an online project that project management skills are crucial. When working as a freelancer, or for a small business, there might not even be a project manager on staff, leaving the web developer to manage their own team, time, and communications. Sprints/scrum and agile seem to dominate the project management space and have helped a lot of teams be successful, but as a project manager its important that you use what's right for your team. You might only be working with a few developers and a Kanban board (ie Trello) board, and if that works? Then why change it? In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss project management from the perspective of a web developer - covering how to manage stakeholders, communication channels, and organizational techniques.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/project-planning-for-web-developers

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Side hustles are a popular choice when looking to make additional money on top of your primary income. There are seemingly countless ways to make a little money on the side and many of them are done online. With that said, web developers, whose job it is to create online experiences, should arguably have an upper hand in this space with their technical knowhow and exposure to online marketing. This week, Matt and Mike discussed whether a web developer should start a side hustle. They covered the pros and cons of side hustles, the difference between side projects & side hustles, and whether junior developers have enough time between their job applications & learning to have a side hustle at all.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/do-web-developers-need-side-hustles

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Finding a job as a web developer is difficult right now. We're hot off the heels of the crazy hiring spree during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now companies are tightening their belts. We see tech companies constantly laying people off, and we've been hearing about a recession for the past year or so. The good news is that finding a job as a web developer isn't impossible, as there are still a lot of companies looking for web developers. Many of these companies are outside tech, however, instead they can be found in finance, retailers, logistics, etc. In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed the current job market, why it's the way it is, and how to navigate it.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/why-is-the-web-developer-job-market-so-tough-right-now

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Choosing the right web host is crucial for your project's success. Web hosting should be seen as the foundation in which your website or web app is built upon. It doesn't matter if you make your app with this framework, that plugin, or have the best content in the business - if the hosting goes down, your project goes down. The problem here is that as a web developer and especially a junior developer, you've spent the majority of your time building and learning on your local machine. Hosting projects locally is fantastic for building, but it doesn't reflect the real-world demands of a website being used by the public. Once deployed your project must withstand varying amounts of traffic while remaining performant, both of these things rest largely on the web host's shoulders - having the right server configuration with the proper networking infrastructure supporting it is crucial. In this episode, Matt takes a look at various web hosting types including shared, dedicated, WordPress, reseller, and nodeJS. Each of these unique hosting types have their own pros and cons ranging from how powerful they are, what their scalability looks like, and how much they cost. The focus of this episode is on what is commonly called "traditional web hosting" or "traditional web hosts" provided by companies such as HostGator, Hostinger, BlueHost, and more.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/what-type-of-hosting-should-you-use-shared-vps-dedicated-reseller-wordpress-nodejs

Your first week as a junior developer can be nerve wracking and anxiety inducing. Not only are you meeting a team of new people, but you're starting a new job as a newbie to coding. This week Matt and Mike discuss how to make the most of your first week of the job, making a great first impression on your team members, and hopefully letting you absorb as much knowledge as you can. By handling social situations with grace, asking valuable questions, and being honest about your capabilities; you'll be well on your way to becoming a valuable development team member. 

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/succeeding-in-your-first-week-as-a-junior-developer

Web development hackathons can be a fun way to do some friendly competitive programming. The result is often a few great portfolio pieces for those involved and a cool prize for those that come out on top. For Paolo Ricciut and Antonio Sarcevic they not only won the Best Ecosystem Integration award at the SvelteHack Hackathon, but they created a project that could help push the Svelte/Kit industry forward with the creation of SvelteLab. SvelteLab is an in-browser code editor that quickly sets up SvelteKit environments where you can test and share your projects easily.

Show Notes: www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/how-a-hackathon-changed-their-life-w-paolo-and-antonio

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Learning JavaScript from scratch can be as much about syntax as it is programming concepts, especially when it's your first language. Concepts like knowing how and why you need a place to store bits of data (variables), re-using code snippets instead of writing them repeatedly (functions), making decisions (conditional statements), and working with collections of data (arrays and looping) are all second nature to experienced developers. These concepts are the foundational building blocks that let you solve problems by thinking like a computer (sometimes this is called programmatic logic). In this episode, Matt and Mike discuss these key JavaScript basics including variables, functions, conditional statements, arrays, and looping.

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/javascript-basics-learn-these-concepts-first

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Failure is a hard pill to swallow, but it's failure that allows us to grow as developers. When you're learning a language like JavaScript, there are a lot of concepts to take in, and even more ways to accomplish the same task. Sometimes, you'll choose a method that works...only to find out later that it's the "wrong" way to do it because of security, or efficiency. When that happens, many JavaScript developers will take the failure hard and let imposter syndrome take hold. In reality, these things will happen to you, and they should seen as a steppingstone as you work your way through junior developer all the way up to senior developer and beyond.

Thanks to this episode's sponsor Clio Websites: https://cliowebsites.com/

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/failure-will-make-you-a-better-javascript-developer

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT

Next.js is a popular React framework that recently made some controversial changes with its 13.4 update. App router was moved to stable in this release bringing React server components, nested routers & layouts, simplified data fetching, streaming & suspense, and built-in SEO support. Unfortunately, some web developers are not excited for this release, with a few questioning if these changes align with what React initially aimed to solve. In this episode, Matt and Mike discussed the Next.js 13.4 update, covering the difference between client and server components, and the community drama that stemmed from these changes.

Thanks to this episode's sponsor Clio Websites: https://cliowebsites.com/

Show Notes: https://www.htmlallthethings.com/podcasts/next-js-13-4-app-router-client-components-vs-server-components

Scrimba Discount: https://tinyurl.com/ScrimbaHATT