Open source is one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever encountered in our industry. It is a movement that essentially groups people together to work on a product because they want to. They usually do it for free, especially during the first stages of the project, and then — get this — they maintain it so that others can use it. Also for free.

I tend to think that if more industries were to adopt open source as we do in software development, things would be a lot easier. Then again, that’s not why we’re here. …

The dream of being your own boss is one that almost everyone goes through at some point during their career. For some strange reason, we tend to believe we can do away with concepts such as “boss,” “9 to 5,” or “team meetings” and just sit down, put our head down, and work on what we love. Like that would solve all our problems.

In some cases, this notion becomes more than just a dream; some people actually succeed at freelance. More often than not, it either remains a dream or quickly becomes a nightmare. …

We’re always looking for talented authors that are willing to cover any and all topics that are of interest to front-end developers. So please, feel free to pitch your ideas at fernando@asayer.io.

What we’re looking for

We’re looking for all types of stories about front-end development and Open Source, but with a focus on one of the following:

• How-tos. We love how-to’s, just make sure they’re not the ever-present “how to make a to-do app with X”, those have been covered to death. Send us something interesting and we’ll publish it.
• Opinion pieces. We have a place for them, if you have a strong…

What’s wrong with the following code?

You can very well say “nothing.” That would be a valid answer. But this code can be considered a code smell if you find it as part of a larger code base where there is a lot more logic around and inside it. Truth be told, switch statements aren’t that great.

With a switch statement, you’re creating a huge block of code that has to be executed serially, checking one condition after the next one. Its syntax allows for problems such as forgetting to write a break clause and causing multiple cases to…

Thanks for all the work you've done so far! The pub is amazing and authors feel welcomed and cared for here. It was a pleasure talking to you during our brief conversation, I wish you the best of lucks!

Good leaders are those who’re able to take their team to the next level, those who’re able to deliver their project on time. Great leaders are those who can keep doing it after 10 years of industry evolution.

The fact that you can lead a project right now is no guarantee that you’ll be able to do it in 5 or 10 years. It only shows you’re capable of dealing with the current state of your particular industry.

There is no way for you to be 100% sure that you’ll be able to deal with what’s coming. You don’t know…

Maybe you’ve been trying to get your tech lead to listen to your idea for a while but you always end up with a canceled event on your calendar. Or perhaps you’re trying to get a raise and that dodge lead of yours keeps slipping away every time you bring money to the conversation.

Either way, you’re here because you want to get your tech lead to pay attention to you. That is, without having to resort to the good old “kidnapping them and forcing them to do what you want” solution.

This is not an easy task, not because…

The company-employee relationship can sometimes be complicated, the work-life balance can easily be upset. You start working on something you like and the next thing you know you’re pushing extra hours like it’s normal.

Sadly, the effort and extra dedication are normally one-sided. In other words, you put in the hours, you miss out on your personal time, and the moment you need something, the rules won’t allow for it.

This is normal, we sometimes fail to realize it’s not the company’s fault that they’re not willing to break the rules. In fact, the bigger the company is, the harder…