Frontend

This specialism course is focused on setting you up to land a Frontend Developer job. We go deeper into building frontend applications, design and popular frameworks that you'll meet in your career such as React.

Modules

Name	Weeks
Collaboration via GitHub	1
Using AI in Development	1
Advanced JavaScript	4
React	5
Specialist Career Training	2
Agile Teamwork	1
Final Project	5

Total: 19 weeks

Learning Goals Overview

Collaboration via GitHub

• How to write a good commit message and submit easy to understand PRs
• Understand why we use branches and the different types
• Practice using branches and handling changes between local and remote
• Understand what a merge conflict is and how to resolve them
• How to save temporary changes without committing them (ie. git stash)
• How to "remove" commits using reset (soft vs hard), revert, cherry-pick and rebase
• Be prepared to collaborate successfully using GitHub on your final project
• How to use git tags and semantic versioning
• Know the main git workflows (feature-branch, gitflow, forking) and when to use each

Using AI in Development

• Use AI to support your development tasks such as refactoring and reviewing code.
• Explore prompting techniques to understand complex code, code snippets and tough technical concepts.
• Evaluate AI-generated code for correctness, expected outcomes, security and maintainability.
• Use AI to support learning new programming languages, frameworks and tools.
• Identify and integrate AI into appropriate parts of the software development workflow.
• Describe ethical, legal and risk considerations of using AI in professional software development.
• Explore the possible futures of how AI is changing the role and expectations of developers in the industry.

Advanced JavaScript

• Retrieve and work with data from remote servers
• Process and display complex data in user-friendly interfaces
• Create responsive web applications that react to user input
• Build complex websites in a scalable and maintainable way

React

• Understand when and why to use React to build modern web applications
• Build user interfaces using reusable, component-based architecture
• Manage data and interactivity using props, state, and hooks
• Handle user input, forms, and events in React applications
• Load and display data from external APIs
• Structure complex, multi-page applications with routing and shared state
• Understand what a Component Library is, along with the pros and cons
• Build, deploy, and share a production-ready React app using Next.js

Specialist Career Training

⚠️ "Learning goals" section is empty in shared-modules/specialist-career-training

Agile Teamwork

• Understand conceptual differences between Agile, Scrum & Kanban
• Understand what Scrum looks like in day to day life as a developer
• Understand how to interact with Scrum ceremonies (e.g. standup, planning, estimating/prioritising, retrospectives)
• Practice skills used by developers such as understanding requirements, breaking down technical tasks, and common workflows for reviewing, testing and deploying.
• Understand how these skills and practices impact and support agility
• Be able to organise a very well structured project in collaboration with other developers for the final project

Final Project

• Collaborate effectively in a team setting

  • Read and extend/improve other peoples code
  • Give and receive constructive PR feedback
  • Plan, communicate and coordinate technical tasks / solutions upfront before implementation
• Develop self-guided learning skills (e.g. learn to read documetation for a new tool or API)
• Interpret a problem statement and specs/wireframes/prototypes into buildable requirements
• Break down bigger problems into smaller, actionable written tasks
• Work in iterative sprints and achieve deadlines
• Ask for help effectively and at the right time (e.g. describing problems to mentors, asking online, and knowing the power and limitations of using AI)
• Deploy a completed project you are proud to showcase on your portfolio