How did I land a Frontend job as a Backend developer?

I used to be a backend developer. My job was to deal with servers and APIs, for example, I built Restful APIs with Python code (either with pure python or with Django REST framework), and created environment (on AWS, Digital Ocean…) to deploy my code. Although I was familiar with Backend side, I still wanted to learn more about Frontend part, which would make me a fullstack developer.

However, changing from Backend to Frontend was not easy, at least for me. My first frontend position in an outsourcing company was in an Angular project. Transitioning from a Senior Backend developer to a Junior Frontend developer was a bit tough. I was not able to properly position an element on a page at first, it took me several months to learn the basic stuffs on frontend side and the Framework. At the begining of the project I was doing pair programming with my colleague who was a Frontend dev, and I learned a lot in several weeks. Then I gained my confident later on of the last phases, I even could do some code review for my teammates.

After several small projects, I then was able to apply for a frontend position in another company as a senior frontend developer. The basic frontend knowledge was the key that made my success on my job landing, let me list some here:

• CSS: positioning (relative, absolute, fixed, static…)
• JavaScript: different among let, var, const; Promise vs. Observable…
• Frontend framework: Angular, ReactJS… e.g HTML binding, DOM
• Optimization: js bundle, lazy loading

In my current project, I am working with my cutomer as a team. We have a team here in Vietnam, our customer is located in Germany, and other team mates are working from Ukraine or Russia. Working in a large team remotely is a real challenge, so effective communication is the key of success. Luckily, we have really good team-players, Ivan on frontend and Marcel on Backend are so much helpful, not mention to Nikolaus as Scrum Master who is a really kind man and pleasure to work with.

So, in summary, my journey from a Backend to a Frontend deleloper was a bit tough, but really rewarding. I am now a happy senior frontend developer. And of course, there are still a lot for me to explore in frontend kingdom.