Feeling like you'll never get another Front End Job without knowing React. Can you relate?

Joanna Hughes — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 23:18:23 +0000

I have been a Front End Developer for 4 years. Prior to switching careers 4 years ago I had no development experience at all.

When I was hired for my first job I literally only knew HTML and vanilla CSS. No JS, no Sass, no Git, never worked in a VM, never worked with a CMS,nothing.

Over the years I've gotten really good at CSS/Sass, care deeply about accessibility, can pick up just about any template language, and can do a fair amount of interactive JS (DOM manipulation). I've built websites large and small and worked on a variety of teams with a variety of people.

I've been doing this for 4 years and to be honest most days I still use mostly HTML and CSS to build most things.

But more and more I'm feeling the world closing in around me. I feel like job descriptions tell me that unless I can build the same component that I could easily build with HTML and CSS with React or Vue then I'm useless and obsolete.

And I'm starting to believe it and feel it. I am working to improve my JS skills, but it never feels good enough or fast enough. I try to have a life outside of work so I'm not always coding or doing a bunch of side projects. Admitting that I'm not working on a side project at all times makes me feel like I'll be judged. Deemed "not a true developer" because I don't want to code 24/7 and have other hobbies.

I just feel like my confidence is totally drained and I'm teetering on burnout.

Do any other Front End Developer feel this way?

DEV Community: Joanna Hughes

Feeling like you'll never get another Front End Job without knowing React. Can you relate?