If people would have told me that I would end up as a front-end developer I would have laughed out loud, however, the bachelor’s program Creative Technology helped me realise that this is actually something that I like to do a lot.
Creative technology is a very broad bachelor’s program, offering courses in various domains like UX, Electrical engineering, computer science and industrial design. This is an advantage as well as a disadvantage. It is favourable because it gives students like me the opportunity to discover what they like to do and what they are good at. Besides that, the broad range of domains that I am being taught about gives me an excellent overview of the various domains that are encountered in a company. Having basic knowledge about various domains makes me a very good intermediary between employees of different domains.
Like mentioned before, the broad offer of courses also has a down side, which is that there is little to no room for specialisation within the courses themselves. Therefore, this program requires the students to specialize in a certain domain with the help of extracurricular activities or jobs, or to take a Master’s program afterwards. The latter being my approach.
However, after gradually adjusting to my new life in Enschede and having a clear picture in my mind of the time that I need to spend on my study material, I wanted to look a bit further, why not start deepening my knowledge today? So, when I got the opportunity to start working at El Niño, I grabbed it with both hands.
What a Creative Technologist needs to become a front-end developer: the essentials
Everybody knows those one-pager, glitter websites with an overdose of animations that children could make for free. I certainly was one of the enthusiasts making such a website, being very proud of my 3 visitors per week. Although the websites I make nowadays consist of less glitter and less animations, I still love to put effort into creating something beautiful for the user. But what is actually needed to create an appealing, user-friendly website?
First of all, the existence of a webpage starts with HTML. HTML is used to give the page its layout and content. However, HTML is nothing without CSS, the Hollywood stylist of webpages. CSS is used to style the page in a static manner, think about fonts, colours, element sizes and positions. Since these two languages are essential for a well-functioning and good-looking website, it is definitely something a potential front-end developer should know about before starting a job at a web development company. As I became too old for these glitter webpages, I got my own domain name and started coding my own websites (with a little help, of course). I made all sorts of webpages, containing everything a 12-year-old could think about. Of course, these websites did not look good, and did not deliver any relevant content. However, they did help me to set my first steps into the front-end development world.
Secondly, although I do not want to recreate my over the top glitter animation websites, animations can actually be very helpful in creating a great user-experience. JavaScript is our best friend here. It can be used to create animations like photo sliders, fade effects and smooth transitions. JavaScript is also used a lot in the back-end, which makes it an interesting language to learn. JavaScript makes an interface more appealing but is not essential for creating one. Therefore, the Creative Technologist does not need to have prior knowledge about this language, but he or she should be willing to learn. Fortunately, El Niño stimulates students to learn new things throughout their working period, which gives me the opportunity to broaden my knowledge about JavaScript as well as other coding languages and be able to design for the best user-experience possible.
Thirdly, the Creative Technologist has a creative view on the world and is focussed on user-centred design. Although a front-end developer can perfectly work without this mind-set, it certainly enhances the web development skills. In most web development companies, a designer makes the designs and the front-end developer turns it into a working website. However, as front-end developer it is really useful to also have some insights into the design such that two different points of view can be merged into one, making the design even better. Besides that, the Creative Technologist can bridge the gap between the designer and the front-end developer, because he or she has knowledge of both fields and is aware of the possibilities and/or restrictions.
Finally, knowledge about various languages is not the only important ingredient to become a successful front-end developer. Creativity and passion should certainly be mentioned as well. Creativity is not only concerned with designing good looking and user-friendly webpages, it also helps solving problems and issues that might be encountered during the development process. Creative problem solving is one of the skills a Creative Technologist develops throughout the bachelor’s program, with the help of various projects and trial-and-error sessions. This skill is definitely a pro and is one of the reasons why Creative Technologists will do an excellent job as front-end developers. Besides creativity, having passion for creating user-friendly interfaces is also very important. The goal of a front-end developer should be to give the user an excellent first impression and even overrule that impression the next time the user encounters the interface. This is not something you learn, it is something you have.
So, what a Creative Technologist needs to become a front-end developer is knowledge about HTML and CSS, the willingness and drive to learn about new languages, creativity for user-centred design and passion to create the best possible user-experiences.
Why a Creative Technologist should get a job
There are several reasons why I encourage every student to get a job. First of all, knowledge gained during working hours is not left at the office, but can be used anywhere else. It can either be used in personal projects or it can be transferred to other people. Helping others with my knowledge really gives me energy and stimulates me to keep improving my skills and learning new things. Besides that, having a job that matches your bachelor’s program helps to make the knowledge gained during courses tangible and concrete. Instead of gaining knowledge, just accepting facts and leaving information as it is, the knowledge can actually be used to make a difference. Lastly, a job does not only provide you with knowledge, it also gives you a nice opportunity to get used to the processes within companies. Mistakes can be made and lessons can be learned, which will all help to personally grow into the person you want to be.
In conclusion, being front-end developer gives me as a creative technologist the opportunity to specialise in multiple domains and to personally grow into the adult world without glitter websites.
