This blog focuses on my journey to become a world class frontend dev/software engineer/js ninja. What qualifies someone as world class? In my eyes, these are people who contribute to the advancement of web technologies, web standards and to the knowledge base of the industry. Thought leaders. Doers. Here is a list of some of the developers I stalk on the interwebs.
Paul Irish
Currently working as a Project Manager over at google, his contributions to front end development have been prolific: HTML5 Boilerplate, Bower, Modernizr, jQuery, Yeoman, etc. His work as a HTML5 evangelist is also very impressive. This blog post from 2008 alone shows how influential Mr. Irish has been. Read his blog (literally read all of his blog) and try to watch his talks, you will learn something.
Chris Coyier
The man behind CSS-TRICKS (the number one resource for all things CSS) and the Co-Founder of CodePen (checkout his Pen). In your down time search out tutorials by Mr Coyier, he is a great teacher. Also checkout his podcast Shop Talk, which is great resource for all things web design and development. Chris’s site.
Addy Osmani
Another Googler and Yeoman contributor. Osmani’s Learning JavaScript Design Patterns (free online) is amazing, and I use it as a real world reference at least once a month. Read this book and you will be one step closer to JS mastery. Follow Addy’s escapades here, especially his blog.
Nicholas C. Zakas
Mr. Zakas has been world class for a long time (at least 10 years). He did pioneering work while working at Yahoo and box. He has also written several books about JS. I’ve personally read and recommend: Maintainable JavaScript, Professional JavaScript (3rd Edition) and High Performance JavaScript. His blog shows that he is always working on his craft and is always at the forefront. I am looking forward to reading Understanding ECMAScript 6.
Ilya Grigorik
His current title says it all, Web Performance Engineer - Google. Grigorik’s Website Performance Optimization Udacity course is the greatest 4 hours I’ve ever invested. Today, you can’t call yourself a serious front end developer if you don’t understand the basics taught in this course. His book High Performance Browser Networking is a great read if you want to (and you should) understand how the interweb works. Ilya’s site.
Douglas Crockford
The father of JSON, need I say more…I will. JavaScript: The Good Parts is a classic and still relevant. I recommend watching the one of Crockford’s JS talks, which update and complement the book. And definitely dig around his site, you will find new and old gems.
Honorable Mentions
Juriy (kangax) Zaytsev, Frontend Engineer at Facebook - fabric.js, ES6 & ES5 Compatibility, blog
Kyle Simpson, Open Web Evangelist - You Don’t Know JS
Jake Archibald, Developer Advocate Google Chrome - blog, HTTP 203 (podcast with Paul below)
Paul Lewis, Developer Advocate Google Chrome - blog, Browser Rendering Optimization (Udacity Course)
Marcy Sutton, Senior Front-End Engineer Deque Systems Inc, blog
You can learn from all of these wonderful people. Follow the links and expand your mind. One day I hope to be on your list.