Chris: 0:00

I think it community is really good for a lot of, uh, different aspects. So one of them is to get validation on your ideas, uh, obviously to get feedback from other people in the field. Right. So they'll give you different feedback then, uh, people who just do like visual checks on your products, like they know the ins and outs like, oh, it's better to do this the other way around from my experience. Um, plus it's really good. I feel like some kind of resonance with other people at, in terms of what works really well and what you should focus on or where you can promote certain. Uh, so I think with every kind of community, it is really the thing of growing together. And I see that in

Fernando: 1:04

Hello everyone. And welcome to another episode, 20 mini JavaScript where we'll cover your favorite language with multiple guests from the community. This podcast is hosted by OpenReplay. OpenReplay is an open-source session replay tool for front end developers I'm Fernando Doglio, your host and overlord for the next 20 ish minutes. And today, we have with us Chris Bongers. Software developer and team lead working@daily.dev and the creator of daily dev tips a source of inspiration and knowledge for developers around the globe. With that said, I'll let our guest introduce himself.

Chris: 1:34

Sure. I'm uh, like you said, Chris, I'm a software developer. Um, I'm currently a web team lead, uh, daily dot dev and in my spare time, uh, which basically means every day I write a blog article. Um, and I've been doing that for the pause 16 years. 16 years.

Fernando: 2:02

I ,alright a single article every day for 16 years.

Chris: 2:06

No, that's the last two years. Sorry. To confuse there.

Fernando: 2:10

No, no worries. No worries. Still two years, uh, and a single article every day. That's that's remarkable. Nice. And, and congrats on that. Uh, all right. So, uh, tell us a little bit about daily dot dev and what you do there and what is, what it is actually for those who don't know.

Chris: 2:28

All right. Daily dot dev is a, uh, browser, extension and web application, uh, built for developers by developers. Um, so it's a really an aggregated source for all your news, uh, related to, uh, development. Uh, so basically when you install the extension, you'll get your new tab in whatever browser you use and as will be a list of all the articles that are hot and trending, and you can modify whatever you see there. So you can add text that interests you. Uh, so you get the latest articles, uh, which you can bookmark, um, which you can comment up vote. Uh, so it's a really great source to keep up to date as a developer.

Fernando: 3:15

Perfect. All right. And you say you're at a tech lead there?

Chris: 3:20

Uh, I'm currently the web team lead, uh, cause I got to choose the name for a team. Um, and since we are kind of more the front end a side of things, so we have a back-end team. Uh, so I decided the web team was, was a cool name. Uh, so I'm, uh, besides that I'm also a software engineer, but I kind of managed the team currently. We are three people. Um, but, uh, it's a, it's a cool place to be in.

Fernando: 3:53

Yeah, definitely. Definitely. All right. And, and, uh, what about daily dev uh, tips, uh, the project that you essentially, uh, worked on for the last two years with, uh, every single article. every day

Chris: 4:09

So daily dev tips is, uh, my baby product and it originated, uh, two years ago. Like I said, it's a, exactly when we had our first lock down in South Africa and that's kind of where it comes from because I was already working from home part time. So is there any going into the office, like treat three days a week, two days a week? Uh, but then I just, you know, at one stage. Locked down, got to stay home five days a week, right? No more travel. And I realized I had a lot of spare time because of that. I didn't have to go into work. Uh, didn't have to go move to the gym because we were doing workouts at home and it freed up a lot of my time. And I thought, what can I do with this? I don't want to watch another Netflix series because I'm watching too many. Um, and I used to have a lifestyle blog, uh, but I kinda stopped doing that because it was too much effort. And, you know, it didn't really resonate with the things I was doing at this time. Uh, so I decided to write about everything that I learned as a software developer. And it kind of started just as a, like a digital thing for myself, like a digital diary. Where I would just write some things on it interests me, will kinds of different techniques, uh, tools. I wanted to check out that I didn't get time for in my work. Uh, And, and so that kind of originated and I bought the domain daily dev tips. So now I had to do it every day because it's in the domain name. Uh, so yeah, that's really how it got to be. And at one stage I just got so addicted to writing and like making the blog articles better every time and doing more with it that I really, really enjoy doing it. And I feel bad. if I Uh, for whatever reason, can't right in the article. Um, so I'll make sure there is one out every day, but there are just certain days where I can write one. So write two articles on another day. Um, yeah.

Fernando: 6:21

Nice. So you just schedule it. Perfect. Uh, how do you, how do you come up with, uh, something new to write every day for two years? Nonetheless

Chris: 6:31

In the beginning, it was quite easy because you just picked some topics. Uh, you know, that, uh, you, you find interesting, especially did a lot of like, uh, JavaScript, little things, uh, CSS, a little like things that people might not be aware of. Um, but at one stage you get to a point where that's kind of like done. You you've talked about all the. And, uh, I have a couple of solutions for that. So it's either using what I learn in my day job. So it could be, we are, um, trying something new, right? Uh, like let's say remix, this is not, not a real world case, but let's say remix and I'll do a whole series on that because like, it's obviously too big to do in one shot. I tried to break it up and little projects. So that's one, uh, the other one is a community driven things. So, uh, luckily over the past four years, I've accumulated quite a lot of followers everywhere. And people ask me to write about certain things that they are unclear of. Like they, they just want to see how it works in a real world project. So that obviously helps. Right. And, uh, the last thing. Is actually around, um, just things that I find other people writing about. Right. So, uh, it doesn't mean I copied them, but just like, oh, that looks very interesting. I'm gonna look it up myself and see what I can find. And that often leads to all kinds of little things that I find interesting. And then write about it.

Fernando: 8:13

With your own spin on it. Right. Yeah. Interesting. Very good. And, uh, so this is a subscription-based, right? So I'm assuming, uh, people receive these over email.

Chris: 8:25

Yeah. It's I mean, it's a fully open source free project. Like everyone can subscribe and they'll get an email every morning, uh, with a tip for today. And of course they can always go to the website too, if you will old a history of, uh, of these two.

Fernando: 8:43

Right. How many subscribers do you have?

Chris: 8:47

Uh, at the moment, I think I just checked it by accident. It was around 1100.

Fernando: 8:55

Nice. Eleven hundred developers getting daily tips from you. That's interesting. And, and now you've also recently built our community around it, right?

Chris: 9:04

Yeah. Not, not particularly around, uh, my website, but I've built a community. Uh, technical content creators, um, because th there were some communities, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. So I decided to build one myself, uh, with the help of a lot of people, uh, that are really like, you know, great people that help everyone get better articles out, um, get their first article out their first content done. And I really loved the vibe that's going on there, where everyone seems to be really helpful and giving a valuable feedback to everyone.

Fernando: 9:45

Fantastic, and can you tell the people, uh, where they can join in this, sorry, this community?

Chris: 9:52

Uh, sure. Uh, I actually don't have a website set up for it. Uh, so the best way to join at the moment is to reach out to me on Twitter. That's a dailyDevTips1.

Fernando: 10:05

All right. We'll, I will add the handle in the show notes anyways, to make sure everyone can, can get to you. That's great. What kind of challenges have you found in the process of building this community and why do you think it's important to have a community for developers or, you know, technical a writers or, uh, any kind of, uh, tech-related people.

Chris: 10:29

I think it community is really good for a lot of, uh, different aspects. So one of them is to get validation on your ideas, uh, obviously to get feedback from other people in the field. Right. So they'll give you different feedback then, uh, people who just. Like visual checks on your products. Like they know the ins and outs like, oh, it's better to do this the other way around from my experience. Um, plus it's really good to have like some kind of resonance with other people in terms of what works really well and what you should focus on or where you can promote certain. Uh, so I think with every kind of community there's really the thing of growing together. And I see that in like quite a lot of the communities that they everyone's there to help each other grow and become better.

Fernando: 11:24

Nice. Alright. Perfect. Okay. So you heard it people, uh, if you're not there yet, check out the show notes and reach out to Chris and join, join the community I'm there as well. It's super fun. All right. So moving on, um, let's talk about JavaScript a little bit because after all we're on a podcast about JavaScript. Um, so you deal with a lot of, um, uh, like you said, we, a lot of tips for, for, for beginning developers also. So what kind of, what are the major problems? If you've seen, uh, new, new JavaScript developers struggle with?

Chris: 12:05

The number one. Struggle for people is that they try to go too hard. Right? They, they, uh, are trying to write their own custom react hooks without like having a really good understanding of react, let alone JavaScript. Um, so I, I think often people are super eager to test something out. That's a little bit too advanced at this stage uh, so nothing wrong with being eager to learn all this stuff. But I think there, uh, is a very strong need to, to understand the basics of certain things. So the basics of JavaScript, the basics of react before you dive into like the little extra things. Right. I think that's the main, main thing I would, uh.

Fernando: 12:54

All right. Interesting. learn to crawl before you, you try to run. All right. Perfect. And what kind of resources, uh, online or otherwise, would you recommend a new developer joining the JavaScript community to check out and, and, and get that, uh, basics, get those basics, uh, solid before moving on.

Chris: 13:15

Uh, so there are a couple of ways. It really depends on what kind of person you are. Like what kind of resource helps you learn? Uh, but I personally think, uh, MDN is a great resource. Um, the MozDocs are really great for basic information, but they only provide, um, very dull information. Like you wouldn't really know how to use it. So that's where things like Free code camp come in handy. Uh, the Odin project also really good free your resource with a lot of like getting started guides on this stuff. Um, so luckily these days there are very much of these like free bootcamp kind of things that can really get you going on a basics.

Fernando: 14:08

Interesting. All right. So MDN, MozDocs and Free code camps I'm aware of, but I had never heard of the Odin project. What is, uh, can you, can you give me more detail about it?

Chris: 14:19

Yeah, I haven't done it myself, but I had some people recommend it to me, which is why I often recommend it because they are super lyrical about it. So it's a, it's also a bootcamp for a starting developers and it's a really well put together with the resources being like superb. And you actually building a. Projects that you can learn from, by understanding the little details that are in here.

Fernando: 14:46

Nice. All right. So learn by doing fantastic. What about the future JavaScript? What about the next step? What do you think is the best? Uh, the next big, big thing that is going to come out? Uh, because, uh, I mean, let's face it. We get new frameworks a week and new libraries every day. Uh, so it's hard to be impressed to be honest. Uh, but recently for example, remix, uh, not came out because it's been around for, for a few years but it kind of hit the, uh, the front page in many, in many places. And, uh, a lot of people have started looking at it and, uh, with a different, you know, fresh new eyes and, and, and seeing the innovation that, that brings to the table where, you know, React Vue on another side of doing kind of the same thing with different flavors. What do you see, uh, after having been in the JavaScript world for awhile, uh, as the next best thing, uh, or next big thing to, to, to hit the front pages, uh, in the near future.

Chris: 15:53

I think if there is one thing I've learned is that you can't really predict these things. Um, like when the big three came out a couple of years ago, like react vue and angular. It started with angular being number one, like believe it or not. Um, which turned out to be the last in line now kinda. Well, it depends on who you ask, but if you look at job opportunities and projects out there, unfortunately it's lost at the moment. Um, and Vue got, uh, like as a good example, Vue got some really bad, uh, years, uh, in between. Where react really thrived. And now Vue is kind of coming back for some reason, which, um, I was actually wondering about yesterday, like, oh, why is Vue getting so much traction again? Um, so I don't know. I find it really hard to determine what's up and coming. But if, uh, if I were to say what to look out for, it would definitely be remix, uh, that has been getting a lot of traction. Uh, so a good measurement this really to see where, what people are talking about. So it's, it's felt remix, uh, and then my favorite, uh, static site generators, uh, which I really hope will be the future, um, for a certain amount of reasons. And, uh, yeah, the, in that field, I would definitely look out for Astro.

Fernando: 17:23

All right, Astro. Okay, cool. Interesting. Thank you. Uh, all right. So moving on a little bit, leaving JavaScript, a bit behind. Uh, let's talk about open-source, which is a big, also a big part of, uh, the JavaScript community and the JavaScript world so what, uh, what are your thoughts about open source around your landscape? Uh, do you think it has the support it needs it, that it works the way it is? Uh, or do you see any problems with it?

Chris: 17:58

Uh, a bit of both. So I'm one of the fortunate people to work for an open source project daily, dot dev is fully open source. Um, so it, it can really thrive, but it has a very, very dark side, which recently came to light, uh, with, uh, Marek from, you know, uh, FakerJS and ColorsJS. Yeah. Who pulled the plug on his open source projects for a very good reason. Um, and if you look at it, uh, from that perspective of open source, I find it a bit sad that, um, like there are very, very big corporates, you know, that are willing to pay for a software they use for hardware, uh, for subscriptions, they, they barely need. Uh, but, but really great open source project doesn't get the support it needs. Uh, there are obviously a few projects that really do well. Um, like, uh, you know, Docker, for instance, really good example, uh, gets a lot of support and, uh, they deserve it, but there are unfortunately like the little packages that are used so often. And just don't get any support. Um, so I'm a really firm believer opensource, but I think we should all respect it. And like, if it helps you in any way, um, just see if you can help the project back. So it, it doesn't mean to give them money, but like to, uh, talk about them, to help them upgrade their docs, to log issues, to maybe solve issues. Uh, and if you kind of course, uh, have your company maybe contribute to them in sponsorships or whatever it may be, I think that's a real neat and change for the open source community.

Fernando: 19:50

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, because it's not just companies that, that ignore a open source project as well. Uh, many developers just, you know, use the tools as if they were just given by never really look at what's behind them or, you know what they're going through to get that code ready for them, right? Yep. Yeah.

Chris: 20:10

A hundred percent. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, th that's something we also do as a company. So we sponsor, uh, several people, uh, that, that have built great open source projects, uh, that we use. Right. So it's only natural to, uh, give back to them. Uh, for their contributions in opensource. That's cool

. Fernando: 20:33

Do you guys know this, uh, on a monthly basis or how is it that you do it?

Chris: 20:40

Yeah, it's, uh, we, each employee gets a monthly budget to spend on open source. Uh, so you can pick whichever project you find, uh, great and contribute to them.

Fernando: 20:53

Nice. I've never heard of a company doing that. That's interesting. Very, good. And a and a nice change. Hopefully, uh, many others will follow, uh, follow behind the example. Yeah. Interesting. All right. Uh, what about your favorite open-source? What's the one that you think, I mean, daily dot dev aside and daily tips, daily dev tips aside as well. Um, what, what's your, go-to the one that you, you always recommend, the one that you are following. What's your favorite one?

Chris: 21:30

Uh, must be Astro. Uh, yes. So I I've been a great fan of their, uh, project. Uh, I've been involved with Astro since the beginning, uh, you know, in the community, uh, I've contributed like over a, a thousand dollars to them already. And, uh, open source funding and, uh, also, you know, contributed by, uh, helping, creating the docs, helping creating demos and tutorials. Uh, so I'm real firm believer of that, uh, product and the people behind it. So I'm, I'm really, uh, supportive in that space.

Fernando: 22:11

Oh, fantastic. Yeah. Nice. And those are great samples as well. Uh, other than, you know, the thousand dollars. Uh, to contribute without spending, uh, money on them. If you don't have to, if you don't have the ability to do so at least, uh, contribute with your time. So that's fantastic. Very well. Very good. All right. So we're reaching already kind of our 20 minute limit. So let me just go into the, uh, quick shot around and I'll give you some, I'll ask you some questions, um, which we're going to be asking every, every guest and you can quickly answer them. All right.

Chris: 22:51

Yep.

Fernando: 22:52

All right. So what's the best advice you ever received, uh, career wise or otherwise?

Chris: 22:58

Uh, the best advice someone gave me was to not do things you don't like, and it sounds very silly, but it really changed my opinion about a lot of things. Yes. Only a too later.

Fernando: 23:13

Alright, great. Uh, what was the first project you ever built?. If you remember,

Chris: 23:18

uh, the first online project must have been, uh, on a Geosites where you could like type your own HTML and then you could, you could make your little website, had a lot of GIFs, uh, and a lot of fancy word art things going around. Pretty weird.

Fernando: 23:36

Cool. Um, what was, uh, what is sorry the most exciting project you, uh, you worked on?

Chris: 23:42

I wrote an integration, uh, for a 3D metal printer. Uh, so it's obviously a hardware machine and we build a complete interface for it on the web. Uh, and that was definitely one of the best projects I've worked on so far.

Fernando: 23:57

And was that recently?

Chris: 24:01

Uh, it's been five years ago. Cool.

Fernando: 24:05

Uh, um, uh, any, any kind of lessons you got from that?

Chris: 24:08

Um, yeah, I think the lessons are really that we take for granted, uh, how much, uh, we rely on really good hardware because there you're working with different kinds of hardware and a lot of information like talking thousands of events per second. Right. Uh, and that's often something we forget that we have to deal with. Like limited internet and whatever.

Fernando: 24:31

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. When you stop using the cloud yeah. Things change. Absolutely. Uh, so, uh, one thing you wish you knew before, uh, when you started coding?

Chris: 24:43

Uh, I wish I knew, uh, to write down stuff earlier. Uh, I've always been a big, uh, user of writing down stuff, but I I've never done it nearly as, as much as I should. And that's the one thing I regret I've done earlier.

Fernando: 25:01

All right. Fair enough. You know, you heard people start writing down things, start publishing. I agree with that. Uh, so last, but certainly not least tell us where people can find you. Uh, you've already said about let's repeat it. And if you're working on anything specific that you want to plug that now now's your time.

Chris: 25:20

People can find me most of the time on Twitter. So that's @dailyDevTips1. Or on my blog daily-dev-tips.com and that's where I hang out most of the time.

Fernando: 25:33

All right, perfect. Thank you. And, um, we'll have all those links in the show notes anyways, so make sure to check them out. And that's it. Thank you very much for your time, Chris. Uh, it was very interesting, uh, to hear from you to know what you're doing, uh, hopefully people, uh, follow your advice, uh, check out those links. Cause they're definitely interesting. Thank you for, for being here.

Chris: 25:58

Thank you so much for having me.

Fernando: 25:59

Yeah. All right. People, that's it. See you in the next one.