Although I began my career as a full-stack developer, I quickly found myself recognized as "the front-end person" on teams. Maybe it was my attention to detail or my focus on user experience, but that label stuck regardless of the reasons. Over time, I began noticing patterns and skills that truly distinguished exceptional front-end engineers.
These are the three habits and skills that signal to me someone is not just a good front-end developer but an exceptional one.
Excel at Responsive Design
Responsive design is a non-negotiable. A great front-end engineer knows that their work doesn't live in a vacuum. It will be viewed on a variety of devices with different screen sizes, resolutions, and orientations.
Responsive design should never be an afterthought. In fact, it should be something you think about even before you begin developing anything.
When responsiveness becomes second nature, your work stands out. You instinctively test components across devices, use modern CSS features like flexbox or grid effectively, and know when to rely on media queries.
Tips to Level Up:
- Make a habit of testing on various device screen sizes.
- Get comfortable with tools like Chrome DevTools to simulate screen sizes and conditions.
- Explore responsive design frameworks like TailwindCSS or Bootstrap but also understand how to build responsiveness from scratch.
Bonus Top:
- Test on small screens first (iPhone SE). Make sure things can fit!
By mastering responsiveness, you'll gain a reputation for delivering work that feels natural and polished, no matter where it's viewed.
Embrace Testing
Testing can feel like a daunting task when you're starting out. It's a skill that many engineers skip because the immediate value isn't obvious. However, testing is like exercise: you don't fully appreciate its benefits until you've experienced them.
Writing tests for front-end components, especially when working with frameworks like React, Vue, or Angular, ensures that your code is robust and reliable. It also boosts your confidence in refactoring and protects you from unexpected regressions.
Why Testing Makes You Exceptional:
- It shows you care about reliability, not just getting work done.
- It makes you think about how to modularize your code well.
- It sets you apart in interviews and teams. Testing is still a rarity among front-end engineers!
Getting Started:
- Begin with component tests using tools like Jest, Vitest, or React Testing Library.
- Expand to end-to-end tests with tools like Cypress or Playwright.
- Build the habit gradually; even basic test coverage is better than none.
Once you've tasted the peace of mind that comes with well-tested code, you'll never want to go back.
Document Like a Pro
Documentation might not seem glamorous, but it's what turns good engineers into great collaborators. Whether you're writing a simple README, creating usage notes for a component, or documenting a full design system with tools like Storybook, clear documentation amplifies your impact.
Front-end development often involves visual elements, so documentation becomes a key resource for designers, back-end developers, and future maintainers.
Why Documentation Matters:
- It reduces friction in team collaborations.
- It makes you think about how you modularize your UI components well, with tools like Storybook.
- It helps others use and extend your work effectively.
How to Get Started:
- Use Storybook or similar tools to document components in isolation. It's not just useful for others, it's a productivity booster for yourself.
- Include practical examples, like how a component behaves with different props or edge cases.
- Write a README for every project, even if it's just for yourself.
Good documentation doesn't just make you a better engineer; it makes you a better team player.
Conclusion
The best front-end engineers understand that their craft is about more than making things look good. It's about creating accessible, responsive, and reliable experiences. By prioritizing responsive design, embracing testing, and documenting effectively, you set yourself apart as someone who not only writes code but builds impactful solutions.
These three skills might seem like extras, but they're the foundation of what makes a front-end engineer exceptional. Start building them today. You'll thank yourself (and so will your future team).
