Spotlight: What I Do As a Front-End Web Developer
Without the web developers and designers who create the web pages we surfed every day, the web would be a wasteland of hand-coded HTML and “under construction” GIFs. Front-end developers are tasked with creating and implementing familiar layouts for our favorite publications and sites.
To learn a little about the day-to-day work of a web developer, we spoke with Mai Nakamura. May is the lead web developer for Jobvite , a social recruiting platform that, among other things, creates websites for other companies looking to hire employees.
Tell us a little about yourself and your experience.
My position at Jobvite is a leading web developer for job sites and I have been here for almost four years. I moved here from Portland, Oregon.
What prompted you to choose your career path?
I first went to community college where I took the 101 Web Design course and realized that I loved it. I thought I was a more practical student and understood very quickly. There I learned that I really enjoy working on the computer. The pleasure of creating something and seeing it right in front of me really gave me pleasure.
After that, I wanted to know more. I knew that I didn’t want to go to a traditional university and be with other people with specialties that I was completely uninterested in, so I decided that I wanted to go to art school. I went to the Portland Art Institute, Oregon and received my degree in web design and multimedia. Everyone in this school was creative.
How did you get a job? What kind of education and experience did you need?
When I was preparing for my graduation, our school had a portfolio exhibition, a kind of job fair for all high school students. That day, I established all my connections and was able to show them my works that were available right in front of them. I came across an interactive design agency looking for a developer. I stood out because I didn’t sleep! Lots of students had slept the night before and weren’t in good shape for a job fair.
I worked for an interactive agency in Portland for five and a half years as a web developer. I have developed many websites, email campaigns, e-commerce sites, everything. I wanted to work on my own, so I left the company and decided to work as a freelancer for a year, where I had my own connections and my own clients. I came to San Francisco to visit a friend and fell in love with this city. I knew someone who worked at Jobvite and he introduced me to this position and since then I have been here!
I am a front-end web developer by education. I went through all sorts of classes from programming to design and figured out where my niche is. In fact, for a front-end developer, you don’t need an advanced degree. Your work kind of shows how much you know. Many people are self-taught these days, and now there are tons of online resources.
One of the important skills is that I am a normal person who can talk. Many developers are more introverted, but I am the complete opposite of that, and I like talking to people and I like writing code. A rare breed.
What are you doing besides what most people see? What do you actually spend most of your time on?
I often advise here at Jobvite, not only in development. Many of our clients turn to us for advice and ideas to develop their own career pages. They need us to consult on the user experience and work with them to figure out what we can do for them. I need them to tell me what they want so that what we deliver meets their expectations. Most, most of my time is spent preparing.
What misconceptions do people often have about your job?
Many people think that I do design. I must explain to them that we are not designing, but developing. We take what you are looking for and design it for you.
What’s your average uptime?
Varies. We are a little understaffed right now, so it was tough. Usually it is 8-9 hours a day, 40-50 hours a week. This is different, because some clients are not ready to go into development, so I wait for them, and then everyone is ready at once! So it comes in waves.
What personal tips and shortcuts have made your job easier?
Being organized helped me to keep things from falling apart. I receive a ton of emails, so it’s important that my inbox is very structured. I am making a long to-do list.
I also multitask, so I try to do 10 things at the same time. This works for me, but it might work for everyone now.
Also, if I need to work from home to make my workload a little lighter the next day, I will.
What are you doing differently from your colleagues or colleagues in the same profession? What are they doing instead?
I am the lead developer, so I lead the team. I reach out to clients more and advise a lot more than some of the other developers. Another aspect of my job is specialized because my team only works with job sites, unlike other types of web development.
The main difference between me and many other developers in general is probably how much consultation I do on a regular basis.
What’s the worst part of a job and how do you deal with it?
As a technician, explaining something technical to a non-technical person is very difficult and can be frustrating. How do I deal with this? Just patience. Patience and tolerance. I have to agree to break this down to the most basic level so they can understand, and I will repeat myself many times.
Indeed, after work I go to the gym. This is my outlet.
What is the most enjoyable part of the job?
I love to make people happy and fix something for them. When customers come back and say nice things, it’s really gratifying.
I also really enjoy being a product expert. Everyone comes to me with questions on career sites, and I love being a resource.
What advice can you give to people who need to use your services?
Clients want a personalized career site, but they have no idea what they want in it. Come visit us with some idea of what you want. This will significantly reduce the amount of time. Come visit us with examples of sites you would like to emulate, end goals for your site, etc. Just give us as much information as possible.
How much money can you expect at your job?
Being in the bay area, it is quite high. Starting salary from $ 70,000 to $ 80,000. It really depends on your experience as well.
How are you progressing in your field?
Great experience. And if you have other interests besides development, such as my interest in consulting and communicating with clients, pursue them. After some time, you can figure out what you like to do and work on it.
What do your customers underestimate / overestimate?
They don’t know how much money and work it takes to create a career website. If they went to the agency, they would pay three times more. They have high hopes for the deal they close. We need to scale based on the time allotted for your career site.
What advice would you give to those who want to become your profession?
The only advice I give to students is to make friends with every student in the class. Someone will remember you. When I got a job after school and we were looking for developers, certain people came to my mind, and I reached out to them, and they got a job at the company I worked for. Someone in the class will get a really good job and they will remember you.
And work on your social skills. If you are a person who can talk with people and develop, then you are much more in demand.