4th Open House

General Discussion

Open House is now being conducted regularly every month, usually during the last week of the month.

A lot of experienced folks (3–5 years) joined this call and were also new to the Frontend Hire community.

Discussion One: Moving to Frontend with 3 Years of QA Experience

We had someone who is trying to move to Frontend Development after 3 years of QA (Quality Assurance) experience.

• Our recommendation: This is an extremely tough switch to make directly. Instead, look for a lateral entry by joining as QA, gaining work knowledge, and slowly taking the initiative on some frontend development tasks—then making a switch internally.

Discussion Two: Learning Node.js and Express for Backend Knowledge

We had someone who is trying to learn more backend skills and chose Node.js and Express.

• Our recommendation: Prefer backend languages like Python or Java. Though it might be easier to choose something (TypeScript/JavaScript) you already know, most companies use non-JavaScript backends. Go is also great (we’d recommend it for type safety over Python), but from our experience, only startups tend to have openings for Go. Ideally, start with Python first, then consider picking up Go once your backend fundamentals are strong!

Discussion Three: Don’t Be Scared of Technical Interviews

Someone was worried about attending technical interviews.

• Our recommendation: Don’t reject yourself by not applying or turning down interviews. Go give your best and treat it as a discussion. It’s also quite possible (though time-consuming) to “game” most interviews. Ultimately, it’s about whether you’re willing to prepare for traditional interview processes or prefer to network enough to find a job without them. At the end of the day, it has to be a good fit for both the employer and the employee.

Watch these mock interview experience from one of the core maintainers of React, might lift your spirits a bit.

• Dan Abramov SLAYS Frontend Interview w/ Ex-Twitch Engineer
• Coding Interview with Dan Abramov

Also, check out the reverse-interview repo for some great questions to ask back to the interviewer.

Discussion Four: Switching Jobs to Work with React

Someone wanted to switch jobs because they prefer working with React instead of vanilla JavaScript.

• Our recommendation: It might be tempting to pick up a React course and focus solely on learning React to land a React-specific job. But no! You should double down on preparing for general frontend interviews first.

Discussion Five: One of the Community Members Maintains a Substack for Tech Meetups in Hyderabad, India

Sridhar Katta maintains the Hyd Tech Events Substack. It might be a good idea to subscribe and network at one of these events.

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This blog post was quickly AI-generated written using the sticky notes from the live session. Do join our discord community to get early access to the live sessions.

What is an Open House?

An Open House is a free, informal community call where anyone can join, ask questions about frontend or web development, and connect with others. If no questions come up, we dive into topics like JavaScript, React, Next.js, SvelteKit, Supabase, or whatever the group is interested in. It’s about learning together and building real connections beyond just LinkedIn or Twitter.