Junior Dev Diary: Entry 1
I went to my first conference. It was Middlesbrough Front End. The sun was shining unusually bright; its soft, warm light blanketed me. I didn’t know what to expect - my closest experience to this was a networking event in Newcastle. I disdain the idea of a networking event though. People only see you as an asset; what you can provide. Your worth is a direct correlation to where you work and what you do. However, I did have a decent time on that event. I even got lucky and got an interview offer!
Upon arrival, I quickly got signed up, collected my goodies, and headed straight to get coffee. It wasn’t long until my chats with my coworkers were cut short with an announcement that the talks are starting. We waddled into the hall and sat.
With my notebook out, my pen in hand, I was ready to learn.
First up was Daniel Roe, the only person I recognised from the lineup. I saw his talk back in Newcastle! He talked about meta frameworks - frameworks built on top of frameworks. Next.js on top of React, SvelteKit on top of Svelte, Nuxt on Vue, etc. A cool talk to start out the day.
Lu Wilson is up next with a change of pace. She demonstrated a bunch of cool things she could make in TLDRAW, the company she worked for. Imagine, what if you could draw a shitty mockup of a stopwatch, and with multi-modal AI, get a working HTML snippet with a UI? Pretty dope stuff! Lu also mentioned about having a constant feedback loop in the application (in this case, user and AI model) made things more fun; more engaging for the user. Happy to hear that she got a raise as well.
Victor Adewusi talked about the use of Web Workers: offloading heavy computational to the Web Worker API so that the application itself does not break under heavy load, leading to better UX. I never worked with Web Workers before, but it’s definitely on my radar now.
Time zoomed past and it was time for the first break.
As the talk continues, I was enthralled by each and every one of them. Everyone had something of value to share, and as someone who is literally a week old in the industry, I did my best to absorb as much information as I could.
I love CSS, so the talks by Michelle Barker and Brecht de Ruyte did resonate with me exceptionally. Michelle talked about using more modern CSS features such as minmax() or clamp() to make fluid layouts. Brecht talked about the future of CSS, and how the team in Open UI is trying to make the native CSS better and better. I was giddy with excitement when he mentioned the popover API, and the possibility of styling dropdowns or the sort in the near future. I damn near [redacted] myself.
Lex Lofthouse brought the basics of design to the audience. Hierarchy, Proximity, Contrast, and Balance. I think most people have a natural understanding of these things, but it takes a different set of skills to identify these and put it into practise. I changed my personal website around after recognising why it doesn’t feel right. Thanks Lex!
Michaela Reaney talked about the importance of ~~soft~~ human skills. Anuradha Kumari raised awareness on the importance of a11y (accessibility - yeah I’m cool now) and the steps we developers can take to make the web more accessible. Esther Adebayo talked about how current CSS-in-JS mostly doesn’t have the same weaknesses as before, as they can be compiled during build time. Salma (WhitePanther) showcased some fun projects she built on Twitch to be used in her streams, and Harry Roberts talked about the thinking process of a performance engineer.
I was barely able to process all of the information I got from the presenters. Bringing a notebook was a genius move by me - I had resources scribbled down to review later. I was especially excited to review the CSS stuff I noted down!
A majority of my colleagues have left - it was just me and 3 others. I thought about going straight back home because I was quite tired and I didn’t know anyone else in the building. “It’s time to network Shawn! This is what a conference is all about!” I hear you yap. Like I said before though, it seemed… cringe.
I decided to wait in line to get a pint, just because one of my colleagues wanted to talk to someone she met earlier. Fortunately, we quickly end up talking to another group of attendees waiting for their pizza.
A few conversations later, I found myself split from the group. The lovely bunch of people I was talking to excused themselves to eat their pizza inside. But now I am alone and afraid, like a Year 1’s first day of school. I can’t leave now, I’ve only drank half my pint. I gathered every ounce of courage to come and say hello to Lu and Daniel.
I mumbled through a quick self-introduction, and they were both very welcoming. One thing led to the other and I find myself talking with people I (from the moment their talk ended) look up to. I have got the opportunity to discuss and share ideas with people who are dedicated to their craft.
It was almost intoxicating how much passion they all had for what they do. You can practically see it oozing out. It was exciting to see them present on stage, yet it was another thing to talk to them directly. I did not want to leave.
Alas, four pints deep, I had to take the last train home. Everyone was so friendly, welcoming, and interesting, I even thought about getting a hotel just so I can hang out for an extra hour or so. But that would be irresponsible - I do have work the next day. I had to say my goodbyes.
I barely caught the last train, and a rush of emotions caught me off guard as I got comfy in my seat. I was relieved I clutched the train, but I felt melancholic. I felt incompetent, but also inspired. I was extremely grateful for the opportunity to connect with loads of people. At the same time, I was bludgeoned by this sense of sorrow. I felt grief. I might never get the chance to see any of them again.
I could not wrap my head around how people I just met, people who I, quite frankly, don’t really know, were able to impact me in such a profound way. Was it their expertise and dedication to their work? Was I seeking validation from people I view as great? Or perhaps, it was simply their pure, unadulterated aura.
Either way, lots to think about. Excited to apply the concepts I learned that day to my work.
I never would have thought that attending a conference could greatly move me. I do recognise that this might just be a me thing - maybe I am just weird. I also recognise this might not be every conference; I was really lucky that my first experience went great. Regardless, my first conference was a success. I learnt a bunch of new things, I got to know lots of amazing new people, and I managed to get a few pints in.
Attending this conference made me realise that I want to pursue this career. There are more amazing people to meet. More skills to learn. A great wave of inspiration has come, and I am excited to ride it.
P.S. I thought about going by Sam now. Still thinking.