How to Stand Out as a Frontend Dev (and Still Be You)
Original email from 23 May, 2025
I storm out of the building with papers in hand.
"Argentina must be the only city in the world who does sh*t like this!"
I'm fuming as I get into the car. Because now I have to pay an extra 50 dollars to the city for not paying an extra 3 dollars in December.
Let me explain.
Where I live, every month we have to pay a bill we call "la municipal". It's basically something we pay every month so that the city I live in can maintain, clean, and repair the streets and continue its services.
The expiration date for that bill is usually near the 20th, but I tend to pay around the start of every month.
That's apparently a mistake 😒
In December, the bill came in, and I paid it like always. What I didn't know is that they announced a bill increase would come, that's a few dollars worth in Argentine pesos.
That price increase came after I had already paid it. And you're supposed to pay the difference even though you paid the bill already.
Which is very dumb and unfair. But you know what? That part doesn't matter because it's just 3 dollars. Who cares, right?
Except you get a big discount in May and June of every year if you're labelled as a "good contributor" for paying everything in 2024 on time. But I didn't.
Because of 3 dollars!
But you know what? That's fine though.
I'm telling you this story for three reasons.
Even though I was angry in that moment, in retrospect... I'm almost kind of impressed at the system that's built behind the scenes. They probably had to build something pretty custom to allow this. There's probably no "paid" state there. It's just "amount paid" and "amount due" values. And probably a weird if statement somewhere like:
If (amountPaid < amountDue) return "YOU OWE US"
And then they're able to change the amountDue whenever they want. Hurray....
If you're a frontend developer, aren't you just relieved you don't have to be the person responsible for that hot mess? We just work on websites all day, centering divs and living our happy lives. When servers break or services stop working, we're not the ones on 24-hour calls. Isn't that wonderful? God, I love being a frontend developer.
This is a newsletter that, at its core, is about being Exceptional. A big part of being exceptional is the ability to stand out. What other frontend newsletter can you say starts their emails about the author paying too much in city bills, while still being entertaining enough to read through?
Only this one baby 😎
So let's talk about being exceptional and how you can stand out as a frontend developer today
(This is the kind of topic I want to start focusing a lot more on because it's where I believe I can help frontend devs out the most! Let me know what you'd like me to focus more in this poll. Thank you in advance ❤️)
We'll start with breaking the classic myth: Being exceptional isn't about being the best.
It's about literally "being the exception.". It has less to do with your level of skill in something and more to do with your ability to take actions or hold characteristics that make you stand out from a crowd.
What's interesting about it is that exceptionality always involves some sort of comparison against something else. Whether that be other individuals, an environment, or groups of people or things.
Let's set a quick example like:
"One of the lightbulbs in my house burned out. It's the only one that doesn't turn on now."
In this scenario, that one lightbulb that doesn't turn on is the exception. Since the other lightbulbs turn on but this one doesn't, it stands out in comparison.
Now obviously, we don't want to be the negative exception. We want to be a positive force and have people look up to us as we do things others might not.
You might think this is hard, but under the right circumstances, it can become quite simple. Here are just a few ways you could stand out if you try to:
Be a lovely person when everybody else is stressed and cranky.
Tell a small joke to break some tension in a serious environment.
Ask the "dumb" question everyone else is too afraid to ask in the meeting.
Wear a giant squid hat in a random crowd.
Stay calm while everybody is panicking.
Put googly eyes on your work laptop.
Notice the pattern? It's about you doing things that other people aren't in specific situations.
Ahh, but wait. That means there are probably hundreds of ways to stand out in any number of situations. And yes, that's the point.
This is what people mean when they say "be yourself".
You're a wonderful human being with hundreds of little "exceptions" about you. Where you were born, what you did in college, what projects you were a part of, which partners you dated, what you love or hate about JavaScript... All of these represent a small part of you.
If you were to give all of these little facts about you equal weight, though, and you try to share them all, it becomes too much information. You end up mixing the boring bits (how you brush your teeth) with the more interesting parts of you. It becomes overwhelming for others to hear.
So, to fix that, you decide what sort of story you want people to know about you. What do you want to be known for? And why?
Once you have that decided, it's just a matter of giving visibility to the "exceptions" you have or do that reinforce that story. Which helps others remember.
And when people remember your story, you're the one who stands out in a way that's uniquely you.
Because nobody can be you, and thus, you are exceptional 🙂
Have a wonderful Friday and thank you for reading.