Dear Recruiter/Hiring Manager, Why I Don't Care About ...

... The following items:

• Stocks (can I cash out? Can I pay my rent with this? Answer is no, and I don't even know if this startup will be even around tomorrow to even care)
• Free meals (can I have a competent AND a caring boss instead of this?)
• Gym access (I sure don't want, or have the time, to hit the gym when overloaded with work constantly, and certainly don't want to do butterfly in front of my coworkers)
• Hot-shot developer on the team (who is he/she and he/she is so special? How does this person's fame have to do with me? What makes him/her so much more special than me and other hard-working devs just trying to scrape by?)
• Deep-pocket investors on-board (How does that help me with my career goals?)
• Hot-shot ex-Googler/ex-PayPal/whatever is on leadership team (why all the name-throwing just to differentiate your company from others? Why try so hard?)
• You are a "kick-ass", "ninja" candidate (only means I will get paid for 3x dev work to me)

Why Is My Fixed Nav Cuts Off Under Android Browsers? A Responsive Page Question

Here is a nasty bug, specifically Android devices.

Supposedly you have your resposive page all done, with a fixed nav bar on the top in mobile view, tested and works great until all desktop browsers and iOS devices.

You hit a snag. Oh no. It's under Android.

Why is the nav bar cuts off when I scroll page down while the browser's search and menu bars moved and hid under the screen?

Does this mean I have to add weird hack CSS code specifically under media query, for ONLY Android version of Chrome? What if this hack isn't compatible with other browsers like Firefox and Opera?

Fear not. It's just a simple fix. Relax. Get a cup of coffee.

Check your meta header definition, and make sure it looks like this:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1, minimum-scale=1.0, user-scalable=no">

No more weird CSS hacks. Happy Friday!

Angular 6 and React 16 - API Best Approach

While exploring the difference between Angular 6 and React 16 in building SPA site and handling API request/response, I want to find out the best, appropriate means to perform API operations. Here are some thoughts I have on the two and what's best:

React 16 - Axion

Why: Don't need additional json() parsing over fetch()
Approach: Use Redux and define action.type for each operations (GET, POST), an action define post, get, etc actions as methods 

Angular 6 - HttpClient

Why: Observable, interface support, piping support

Approach: Create service(s) specifically handle API requests/responses, create interface file(s) for specific response model. Use @Inject for individual API service specific to the component

React Project Post-Mortem

After one month of development work, the React app will finally be delivered. Here are some feelings and thought I have looking back at the development process. I will update an existing blog post to get in-depth of what I've learned in code.

• Pace yourself. There are always more work to be done, better way of doing things, code that can and should be refactored
• A design document really helps starting and during development. It makes developer think about the best approach to the problem and the project requirements, leading to generate relevant questions and discussions. I didn't do this and it came back to bite me nearing the delivering date, where some parts I was building it incorrectly because I didn't fully understand, nor flushed out, all the specs at the beginning of the dev cycle
• Be sure to raise concerns as soon as you see any unusual behavior from API, namely stability/schema of the response, with the backend dev ASAP. The frontend heavily relies on the backend for stable, usable structure that will make frontend code cleaner, easier to digest, and for presentation

React Gotchas (So Far)

• Can't use location.href() in React, will thow you error. Use element.scrollIntoView() instead
• Use window.innerWidth() to check window size for responsive handling of states (hamburger button for instance), otherwise stick with @media in your CSS
• Use async/await when fetch(), wrapped in try/catch states to catch all success/errors
• YES, you CAN still use document, best in render() when elements are indeed rendered, and you are accessing React's virtual DOM

If a Tree Falls In a Forest, Will it Make a Sound?

Here are some Friday yap to share with you.

Rhetorical questions like this is really self-serving confirmations to the person asking the actual question. All answers are wrong as soon as they don't serve to add value, insights as to the reason behind why the person ask the question in the first place - How they reach the conclusion to the question even before asking the question. Was it nature, or nurther, combination of both, that causes the person asking the question in the first place?

I believe this is also true to interview questions - Employer already have the answers, whether it be concrete or from hinesight, experience, knowledge, peers, so forth. It's up to the candidate to affirm the employer's conclusion, or if not to affirm, offer insights that provide logical, observable facts to the employer's decided mind. 

• No, because if it did, you wouldn't ask me this question.
• It doesn't matter because you already know the answer. You are not here to ask for my opinion, but to affirm your conclusion to the answer in the first place. 

Since nacissism is currently socially-acceptable (social media, job interviews with the whole seeking "good-fit" candidates), when will it ever be recognized as a social disorder and a problem for society. 

Interesting Frontend Developer Job Descriptions 2018

Mini-dump of interesting job descriptions I have seen from time-to-time, with my response to each of them, purely my own opinion. Enjoy!

• High emotional intelligence (I will likely have to work nights and weekends, but you expect me to behave like a functional human being?)