In 2007/8, I began my journey as a self-taught frontend web developer.
I had been exploring alternative career paths for a few weeks when I came across an article about a university student who created the "Million Dollar Homepage", as shown in the screenshot above. The day after reading about it, a colleague asked me if I had any knowledge of web development because the freelance developer who maintained our company website was frequently on vacation.
I found the aforementioned developer's Myspace page (this was 2007/8!) and discovered that he was indeed frequently on holiday. Very expensive holidays as well.
That evening, I started coding my first lines of HTML around 7pm. At that stage, I hadn't heard of CSS, but I kept "coding" until past midnight because I was fascinated by seeing the immediate albeit ugly results on the page.
My first online course
Fast forward a few weeks, and I took my first online course: Lynda.com's CSS course. I can't recall the exact name, but I remember it was Lynda and Eric Meyer.
By then I was already hooked on frontend web development, but I learned so much from that very short course and came away eager to try the techniques that the course had taught me. If nothing else, it reminds me that courses do not need to be the current 60-hour monster courses to benefit self-taught web developers.
My passion
When I first embarked on my journey in web development, my mind was set on the financial rewards that came with mastering the craft. However, as I delved deeper into the world of frontend development, I became obsessed with the intricate process of transforming beautiful designs into flawless user interfaces.
I'm drawn to the simplicity of websites that utilize great typography and white space. These minimalistic designs may appear uncomplicated, but the reality is far more complex. Achieving perfection in these designs requires a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of the principles of design. Each element must be strategically placed to create a harmonious whole, and each stroke of the brush must be intentional.
In the end, it's this amalgamation of artistic flair and technical skill that fuels my passion for frontend web development. The journey of crafting user interfaces that are both aesthetically pleasing and functionally efficient continues to inspire and challenge me every day.
My experience
Like most freelance web developers, I work with a broad range of frameworks and libraries. In my early years, I mostly worked with Magento 1, Drupal and Wordpress. I'm a Magento 1 certified frontend web developer. In the days before Themeforest and Wordpress page builders, I built dozens of Wordpress corporate websites.
Since 2020, I've focused more on JavaScript frameworks and libraries. I've worked extensively on Vue.js and Nuxt.js projects that use Laravel as the backend. I've also worked with Meteor.js, React.js and Next.js.
My skillset
My skillset is primarly HTML, CSS and JavaScript, with a decent amount of frontend developer PHP. I've spent the last 2 years working more as a fullstack developer using Laravel as the backend for my projects, but my preference remains frontend web development.
If you're looking for examples of my design work, you can find them here:
- Free Bootstrap HTML template designed and built by me
- Free Bootstrap HTML template designed and built by me
- Real-world client example site designed and built by me
Lastly, Pixel Rocket has been entirely built by me, frontend, backend, devops - and anything else that I'm learning on the go!