preface

First of all, I want to declare in advance that this article is written by me to those students who are not in the major, but who really want to engage in front-end work and are confused about their future prospects. I hope that after reading this article, you can firm up your direction and do what you like.

Before writing this article, I would like to introduce myself. I am Luo Jixin, a junior student from Central South University of Forestry and Technology, majoring in geographic Information Science. It took me about a year to study independently. From the end of winter vacation in 2020 to now, I have received internship offers from Tick List, Xiaomi and Alibaba successively, and the interview process of Tencent is in the last HR meeting. Finally, I chose Alibaba.

In the beginning, I planned to take the postgraduate entrance examination during the winter vacation. I thought I’d better get into a good 985/211 university to improve my competitiveness. I wanted to be admitted to dachang as a non-professional student, but to tell the truth, I had no confidence. But then I accidentally received a link from my colleague, Wang Jiaqi, majoring in computer science and technology, who sent me ali’s internship tweet. At that time, I tried to send in my resume and passed the initial application. Although it was only a preliminary application, it did give me a lot of confidence. After that, I began to spend time preparing for the following interview. I think I can spend a month to accumulate the front-end knowledge I have learned for a year and strive for an opportunity to join a big factory. And the final result I believe you have guessed, that is the two of us through the interview, joined the same team ali.

Why don’t I go to graduate school?

I believe that many people now take postgraduate entrance exams because they feel that they cannot find a good job after graduation. They want to be admitted to a good university to improve their education and lay a foundation for finding a good job in the future. And that’s what I really thought at first. So the question comes, is it necessary to find a good job through postgraduate entrance examination? Or is the meaning of postgraduate entrance examination great for job hunting?

Take me for example, ordinary colleges, non-technical classes, want to be engaged in Internet front-end development. Let’s take a look at the trend of the number of candidates for postgraduate entrance examination in recent years:

As can be seen from the above chart, the number of postgraduate candidates is increasing year by year, including many candidates from World War II or even multiple wars. At the same time, we know that the number of postgraduate students in 2020 will reach 3.4 million! , and due to the epidemic, it is even more difficult for students to take the 2021 postgraduate entrance examination. School is not open, can only study at home, this study at home, I believe we all understand. I also had been in the home review take an examination of grind period of time, the individual feels the home is not a very good study place really. Every time I watch the online lessons carefully, it is really hard for me to calm down with the noisy voices of adults chatting and children. Many friends around me also joked with me about this. Indeed, due to the epidemic, the postgraduate entrance examination is becoming more and more severe. Not only the postgraduate entrance examination, but also the college entrance examination has been postponed.

So let’s get back to the point: is taking the postgraduate entrance exam really of great significance for finding a job? I’m talking, of course, to those of you who are looking for a front end position like me. If you really want to work in the front end of the Internet, THEN I suggest you try to find internships rather than graduate school. Of course, if you don’t want to be engaged in the front end of this, but really want to transfer to the computer major, learn more about the computer professional knowledge, want to be engaged in research work then you can try to take the postgraduate entrance examination. As for me, I like the front end very much and want to learn more about the front end, but THERE is no major related to the front end in the postgraduate entrance examination. Then I would like to have an internship in a company to enhance my value and broaden my knowledge, so that I can achieve a sense of accomplishment.

So I really recommend those of you who are like me and are still hesitating whether to apply for graduate school or to find a job and really like Internet front-end work to try to find an internship, it won’t take too much of your time.

How to prepare for a front-end interview?

If you’re looking for a front-end internship right now, the interview is an important part of the process. Next, I will talk about how I prepared for the interview during this month. The back is full of dry goods, suggested intensive reading!

In the process of preparing for the interview, I found that the interview is nothing more than the following four points:

One foundation, two projects, three resume, four mentality

A basis,

The first is the foundation, so what kind of foundation? Here are a few tips I’ve compiled (ps: Not exhaustive, but useful) :

Next I am mainly on the above several big points to make an explanation:

  1. HTML: Know the semantic tags of HTML, the new features of HTML5, and the functions of some tags.
  2. CSS: it is recommended to go through the “CSS Authority Guide”, layout, positioning, box model is the focus.
  3. Js: This section is quite extensive. If your JS learning is not very good, then it is necessary to work harder. To understand the basic, algorithm, data structure, more to LeetCode brush questions. Related applications include: anti-shake and throttling, XMLHttprequest, js animation. Recommend “JavaScript advanced programming” a close read.
  4. Networking: The main thing I did in networking was read the Diagram HTTP. If you are willing to spare time, you can take a look at HTTPS, which is more complex, involving cryptography, network security attack and defense. Network security is also the focus, especially XSS, CSRF, and SQL injection, which need to be deeply understood, know their principle, attack function and how to defend.
  5. Framework: This is also the most important part, because my technical stack is mainly VUE, so I will focus on how I prepare for vUE related interviews. First of all, you should be very proficient in the use of VUE, which is reflected in your daily project process. Some basic apis, mixins, slots, component passes, and life cycles are the basics, and you can also learn about some of vue3.0’s new features: proxy observer mode to listen for properties, and so on. The most important thing is that you have to look at the source code and know some of the underlying implementation principles of VUE, which is a great plus in the interview process. The main thing is to look at the source code of MVVM implementation, the source code of VUE implementation responsive listening, and the source code of VUE-Router and Vuex.
  6. Performance optimization: This area is also a big part of the game, and there is not a single company I have interviewed that doesn’t ask about performance optimization. When it comes to performance tuning, these are the main points: browser caching, which you have to answer! If let you talk about front-end optimization, caching is not said, you do not have enough experience in the project, other things such as preloading and lazy loading, webworker threads can be understood.
  7. Engineering: mainly test webpack, the use of Plugin and Babel, to solve the problem. Since I only said I knew webpack when I wrote my resume, the interviewer didn’t ask me about it in depth.

If your friend time abundant can go to the b stands for video to have a look, of course, if you are local tyrants can go for class network, (ps: actually can also go to baidu to buy pirated) I am here recommend several longed for class teacher: double the dell and teacher, both the teacher was very deep, step by step. Especially Dell teacher every time after class will say: “let’s come on together!” . Every time I hear it, MY heart is saying, come on, come on, come on! You’re not the only one! Ha ha ha ha ha a little bit of inner play I.

Second, the project

The second is projects, which are one of the main points of your resume that will attract the interviewer. In fact, this is not a month to do so good, mainly rely on the accumulation of ordinary projects. But these projects have to be a highlight for you, and you have to know that they better have a practical application. It’s not just the background management system, imitation book, imitation Qunar.com, imitation Meituan takeout and so on. These are not your highlights, and they are not enough to be your highlights. Your highlight is that the project you did was based on a real need, and you have to understand that all projects are based on needs.

Correct requirements analysis determines the direction of the product

— From Baidu Encyclopedia

During my college years, I have done several projects. Although they are not very big, some of them have produced quite good value.

  1. Entering the Wechat mini program of LINust: this mini program is the first finished product of the project that I officially participated in. Now the president of our GIS Association is maintaining this micro program (PS: But recently he is preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination, and there is something wrong with the server, so he will have to be managed by his younger students). And I am the vice president of the association, mainly responsible for the production of small program front end. At present, the number of users of the small program has reached 191, which is mainly used by the 19th freshmen of our college. Our college is a small college with about 300 freshmen. That’s about 2/3 of the total.

  2. Forest virtual simulation fire prevention teaching platform: This project mainly uses a THREE-DIMENSIONAL earth project made by Cesium and jquery. The main function is to display the processed remote sensing data on the three-dimensional earth. It is now on the college web, mainly for teachers to use.

    Cesium is a world-class JavaScript open source product for 3d earth and maps. It provides a development package based on JavaScript language, convenient for users to quickly build a virtual earth Web application with zero plug-ins, and has high quality guarantee in performance, accuracy, rendering quality and multi-platform, ease of use.

    – from CSDN

Others include pneumonia maps, personal financial management. These are made mainly for personal needs.

Three, resume

Your resume should be rich, especially in the description of projects. Write clearly the position you hold, the source address of the project, if it is an online project can write online address, as well as the technology stack used by the project, the main functions and technical difficulties are clearly written, so that the interviewer can do a preliminary assessment of your project experience. So the more projects you have, the better, but don’t put them all on your resume. Or, as I said, write practical projects.

And most, most important: don’t shortchange yourself on your resume. When writing your skills, you should distinguish understanding, familiarity, proficiency and mastery. Don’t include skills that you don’t know or have only heard of. Remember that!

Four,

Keeping a good attitude is also a key to the success of the interview. I should not be too nervous. Of course, people like me will be very nervous for the first interview, but with the increasing number of interviews and the deepening of the interview, I gradually became less nervous than the first interview. But a certain amount of tension is needed to keep you awake and your brain working.

If you are having trouble answering an interview question, you can always ask the interviewer for help and ask for a hint. Interview is not like a test, you can do it if you can do it, but you can’t do it if you can’t do it. Interview is different, in the case that you don’t have a clue, you can ask the interviewer to give you some hints and provide some ideas. If you still don’t get the answer, forget it and ask the interviewer modestly. The interviewer will be more than happy to answer this question for you. But if you stick to it, the interviewer will no doubt think you’re wasting your time, which will leave a bad impression. So don’t do that. Learn to always answer and always ask questions.

How did I learn the front end

So much said in front of me is actually summed up in the interview process, share to you just don’t want you to step on the pit. Then, let’s talk about how I learned the front end. First, let’s put a map of my path from learning the front end to the present. (In the future, Alibaba may focus on the development of the front end of mobile terminals.)

When the former president of our association taught us the front end for the first time, IT was amazing to see some simple HTML and CSS codes realized some beautiful effects, and it was also the first time to feel the charm of the front end. So I started on the front end. Use all spare time and summer vacation time self-study front-end knowledge.

At first, I mainly learned the front end by watching videos on SITE B, MOOCs. Later, I found that if I only study by watching videos, it would be easy to miss some knowledge points, so I gradually started to look for some e-books online (PS: e-books are easier to read on iPad, but the key is free haha). Here I recommend you to check out these books (ps: including some webGL books, if you are interested, you can check them out) :

  • The Definitive GUIDE to CSS
  • JavaScript Advanced Programming
  • The Definitive JavaScript Guide
  • “JavaScript you don’t know” on, in, under, a very thick book, very detailed, suggested can pick read.
  • Illustrated HTTP
  • WebGL Programming Guide

Of course, if you are interested in WebGL Programming Guide, you can also have a look at it. I am reading this book and I recommend it to you if I think it is good.

In fact, I believe that a lot of non-class friends like me when learning the front end, there will be a question, that is: I now professional courses are so many, professional courses can not learn, I self-study the front end is so difficult, then I learned the front end in the end there is no use?

I used to have such doubts, I was in a bottleneck at that time, self-doubt, not confident, think I have learned so much is useless. As much as I love the front end, I can’t help but ask myself: Will I be able to get a job if I study this? Can you find a good job? After all, facing graduation, to face is their own survival problem. I really can be so determined to do unremittingly like things?

Before I answer those questions, I’d like to give you a word:

Time will tell, and what you believe in will come back to you one day

I remember talking to my teacher about these questions, and she replied, “Don’t waste your time obsessing over them.” Yeah, why am I wasting my time on my ego, when I have all this time and I don’t know if I can learn more? Why waste time! Time is squeezed out, even if there are many major courses, I always have leisure time, so I can seize these scattered time to learn what I like.

Gradually, I got out of this dead end, and found my own direction in a project experience in the college. For the first time, I combined the front-end knowledge I learned by myself with my major — Geographic Information Science, and started WebGL programming.

WebGL is a technology for drawing and rendering complex 3D graphics (3D graphics) on web pages and allowing users to interact with them. The technology combines HTML5 and JavaScript to allow developers to create and render three-dimensional graphics on web pages

— WebGL Programming Guide

In WebGL, I take geographic data as data source and perform visualization in the front end. The combination of professional knowledge for the first time and self-taught front-end knowledge made me feel full of sense of achievement.

So HERE I would like to tell my friends like me, do not doubt yourself, brave to do what you like, and stick to it, one day you will find your own direction (now the front end is different from before, there are too many front end directions really). If you are like me and do not know whether to take the postgraduate entrance exam or find a job, I hope you can spare some time to go to the interview, to fight for it. In fact, now it is not that big factories must 985/211, big factories still pay attention to personal strength and experience.

conclusion

Finally, I would like to express my special thanks to one of my alumni brothers, Wang Jiaqi. If it were not for him, I would still be preparing for the postgraduate entrance examination. The key I was also at that time take an examination of grind practice between tangle, he called me to try, result za elder brother two entered Ali together, indescribable predestination ah ah. There is also the best brother Yuanquan in the world. In ali’s interview process, brother Yuanquan really helped us a lot. Thank you so much! And my roommate Luo Zhenhua, who is now working as a product manager at Bytedance, has also given me a lot of experience, telling me not to step on any pits haha haha. And, of course, there are the big guys in the future star group to answer my questions. In short, I am very grateful to the people around me for their help and encouragement, thank you!

If you want to join the most powerful front-end team in the Eastern Hemisphere, you can add my brother Ali’s wechat account: Wuxiaorui86. Wang Jiaqi, from Class 2 of the Accounting department of @17, and I went to the end with the help of my brother! If you are already lucky enough to join the most powerful front end team in the Eastern hemisphere, you will also be guided by your senior brother in your defense of becoming a full member, and the rate of becoming a full member is almost 100%.

If you want to join a big company like Ali like me, please follow our official account: Hello FE, where we will post our learning experiences regularly

In addition to my article, my classmates also made a summary for the students of the subject class:

  • “The front-end development that my teacher once looked down upon, but now I have won many offers from big factories and finally entered Ali” @Jack_Wang