Keep learning, because in the digital world, developments are very fast and we are required to keep up with them. Don’t forget to build a network by joining the community to always meet new people – Arwani Ali (Front-end engineer Ketitik).
In today’s digital era, people from all walks of life utilize these technological advancements for their various needs such as business, work, and others. The media used also varies, such as social media, websites, and so on. Just like social media, websites can also be utilized for business and work. When talking about websites, of course you also have to think about the appearance of the website so that it looks attractive. The creation of a website that looks good and attracts visitors cannot be separated from the touch of an expert. Who else if not a front-end engineer. Like Arwani Ali, Ketitik’s front-end engineer, who plays an important role in creating the appearance of the NetMonk website and application. But it turns out, the job of a front-end engineer is not only to make sure the website looks attractive. What are they? Let’s see the rest in this article, which will also reveal the story behind being a front-end engineer.
Mas Arwani, as he is called, has been in this job for five years. According to him, the front-end engineer is the spearhead of an application which is his responsibility. Because a good application is the easiest application to use and must make it easier for users. The graduate of the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology explained that front-end includes UX and UI. He added, UX aka user experience is how users can interact using the application comfortably and easily, including the flow of how the application can be easily understood by users. It must be more user character research. Meanwhile, UI or user interface is the detailed design of the application. After the application flow is obtained, the next step is to design the final appearance that users will see including, layout, size, coloring, and eye-catching appearance of the application.
About being a front-end engineer
The man from Surabaya admits that his interest in his current job started in 2004. The story goes that at that time, the appearance of the website was still monotonous, still difficult to use and difficult to operate which then made his curiosity arise. It was then that Mas Arwani began to be moved to make the appearance of websites and applications become more “awesome” and began to learn web application design. He added that his expertise in this field came from self-taught learning and joining related communities.
To get inspiration, Arwani said that inspiration comes from anywhere, anything, and anytime. For example, when browsing, then finding a good application, it is usually immediately bookmarked to be studied and used as inspiration. Or when I see a successful developer building a ‘wow’ application, that person can inspire me, he added.
Interesting Experience
Being a front-end engineer for 5 years, of course mas Arwani has interesting experiences to listen to. One experience that is hard to forget is when he was still starting out as a software developer and at that time he was only able to modify open source templates. He admitted, when he was called for an interview at a startup in Surabaya as a front-end engineer, he was required to create an application display “from scratch” aka from scratch and was given only 1 hour. Of course this was a big challenge for mas Arwani because he had never done it before. So as a result, in the allotted time, he did not do anything.
“After that, I asked for a second chance to learn it for 2 days.” Said mas Arwani. As a result, during those two days, I did not sleep to complete the assignment given. For his hard work, Arwani was finally accepted to work at the startup.
The Joys and Sorrows
Right in June this year, it has been one year since he joined Ketitik. During his time as a front-end engineer, he admits that wherever he is, there is no sorrow in working as long as he is sincere in doing it. During his time with Ketitik, he learned many new things that he had never known and was very happy to have joined a friendly and supportive team, he added.
Messages
After we have heard the story behind being a front-end engineer, starting from what the work is, what are the interesting experiences, to the joys and sorrows conveyed by the front-end engineer from Ketitik, mas Arwani. In this final part, he would like to convey a message to everyone who might be interested in becoming a front-end engineer.
“Keep learning, because in the digital world, development is very fast and we are required to keep up with it. Don’t forget to build a network about joining communities to always meet new people.”- Arwani Ali (2019)
Hopefully this article can provide inspiration for you, especially for those of you who want to become a front-end engineer and are curious about the story behind it.
