Programmer 1v1 Interview Series Episode 10: Pure Frontend Won't Last Much Longer

Hello everyone, I am Shuangyue. Author of wangEditor, former senior frontend engineer at Baidu and Didi, elite lecturer at MuKe, PMP, author of Frontend Interview School.

I am currently running a "Programmer 1v1 Interview Series" where I chat one-on-one via WeChat voice or text, sharing your situation and confusion, and I give advice. Below is the main content of the 10th communicator (no personal sensitive information), shared for everyone's reference.

Basic Info

• Male
• City: Shenzhen
• Marital status: No
• Education: Bachelor's degree
• Years of work: 9
• Company size: Medium
• Currently employed: Yes
• Position: Frontend
• Industry: Construction

His company laid off a large wave last year, and this year they have been laying off intermittently, so he is anxious and worried, and came to talk to me.

He has two main questions, but I think the questions themselves are wrong, as detailed below.

• Under the current situation, how should frontend transform to be sustainable
• After a certain age, if you still can't make it to management, can you keep working as a frontline developer?

There Is No Frontend Anymore

His first question: Under the current situation, how should frontend transform to be sustainable?

He is still thinking from the frontend perspective, but actually now there is no frontend anymore, it's all AI + full-stack.

This is also limited by his work environment. His company is a semi-state-owned enterprise, and the development process is relatively traditional; they still use frontend-backend separation. I remember that previously I talked to a state-owned enterprise outsourced worker who said the same thing.

But now in private enterprises, especially internet companies, pure frontend positions have long been gone, and even teams have been merged.

To maintain workplace competitiveness, you must transform to full-stack development as soon as possible, combined with AI programming. Their server side uses the Java technology stack, so he should start learning from Java.

First, through self-study, you should be able to build your own project that can run through all the processes. Then look at the daily development needs of the company's backend developers, and see if your skills can meet their daily development needs. Reaching that level is enough.

What to Learn in AI Programming

AI programming is just a set of tools. We programmers are users and consumers of AI programming tools, so theoretically there is nothing to learn.

But he mentioned a phenomenon: some colleagues use AI programming tools to develop features quickly, but the code quality is very poor, making it hard to maintain later. However, the manager doesn't care about that, which makes other developers appear slower. What to do?

This problem should be viewed from two aspects:

First, the skills of AI programming can be regulated and constrained through skill tools, MCP, and harness processes to control the code quality and feature stability output by AI. Since AI programming has been popular for a while, there is practical experience, and you need to seriously study and practice it. But whether to promote it in the company is not something an individual can do.

Second, in this world, bad money always drives out good money. You can't fight human nature. Since the manager doesn't care about code quality, don't take it too seriously. You are only selling your time to earn some money; there is no need to care too much about the quality of your work output.

The job is the boss's; the skills are your own. Learn what you should learn, use what you should use, and don't worry too much about other people's business.

Can You Get Promoted to Management?

His second question: After a certain age, if you still can't make it to management, can you keep working as a frontline developer?

With a bachelor's degree, 9 years of work, at around 30-something, your physical strength can't keep up with younger people, and his company counts overtime hours.

Can you keep working as a frontline developer? You have no choice. If you can't, what else would you do?

As long as the company doesn't lay you off, keep working, even if it means overtime. If you get laid off, you continue to look for a job, and in a new job you will likely still be working overtime.

Don't think it's pitiful. Actually, the salary and returns of IT programmer jobs are still decent compared to other grassroots industries.

If you really feel like you're about to die from overtime and can't keep going, the only option is to resign and find a less demanding job. But is there any such thing as a relaxed job in this world?

As for getting promoted to management, you basically don't need to think about it. There are layoffs and hiring freezes everywhere, teams are shrinking, so where would the promotion opportunities be? Being able to keep your job without being laid off is already good enough.

Actually, don't worry too much. Compared to those worse off, you're better off. He has only worked for 9 years; there are people who have worked for 15 years, and they all have to go to work to earn money.