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0 pointspeterkelly9y ago0 comments

My advice is to always understand the layer below what you're working with.

Learning assembly is worthwhile if you're programming in C.

Learning CSS is worthwhile if you're designing websites using Bootstrap.

Perhaps even more importantly though, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML have a longevity that's tremendously longer than any given framework. My understanding of these technologies from 15 years ago remains relevant today, and although there's been a lot of new features added, I can build upon that knowledge to incrementally learn new things. And I'm confident that in another 15 years from now, knowledge of these web technologies that underpin all the frameworks will still be relevant. The same can't be said of Bootstrap 4.

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4 comments · 3 top-level

kedean9y ago· 1 in thread

Agreed. The biggest thing I look for when interviewing new developers isn't "how much do you know about X framework", it's "could you implement all of that without the framework?". Knowing bootstrap won't do you that much good if you don't understand how/why it does what it does. Similarly, I demand that Java developers are able to describe the underlying 'how' of Spring, rather than regurgitating tutorials from the Internet.

scarface749y ago

I interview developers also. I don't expect developers to be great designers. I expect them to know the basics of CSS and how selectors work, but that's about it. I'm fine if they aren't advanced CSS whizzes. I do expect them to know JavaScript including how prototypes work, scoping, etc.

at-fates-hands9y ago

>> My understanding of these technologies from 15 years ago remains relevant today,

I have almost the exact opposite experience. I use next to nothing I learned eight years ago today when I'm building apps and websites.

- Float based layouts? Nope, everything is a grid system these days.

- Browser inconsistencies? Nope, they're almost all gone except if you still have to support legacy browsers. All the quirks of every IE version I used to have memorized? They're all but forgotten now and I don't need them.

- I used to be a whiz with Flash. Nobody uses flash anymore. CSS animations, transitions, and better javascript rendering libraries have rendered my Flash skill set irrelevant.

- I used to only have to worry about how my sites rendered on desktops. Now, everything is mobile, mobile, mobile and has to be responsive. More and more media queries to handle all those weird outliers of screen sizes.

- I never had to think about UI/UX patterns. Now, it's almost all I do nowadays. Make sure this is touch enabled, how can a user use this app on a phone? Are you hiding menus when you should be showing them? Does a desktop user even know what a "hamburger" menu is? A/B testing out the ass to make absolutely sure you have the right color/shade/hue of a button so the user clicks on it.

- When I first started, I never had to know Javascript. The places I worked had JS plugins all written for you. All you had to do was copy/paste a snippet and you were done. Prototypical inheritance? Closures? A functions "this" keyword and how it works? Never, ever had to know that stuff. Now I have to know all that, and a TON more.

I'd say on average my skill set tends to do a 100% turnover about every 2-3 years. That's not to say I don't still use some of the basic understanding of HTML and CSS that I learned right off the bat such as selector classes and pseudo classes or the difference between elements and tags. But on the whole, I'm constantly having to learn new techniques, new standards, and generally anything that's being added to the HTML5 or CSS3 specs. I've actually quit jobs because I felt like what I needed to know to do the work was too easy and my skills were just eroding while I was there.

astrostl9y ago

Nice rule of thumb!

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