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JavaScript Developer: Career Path

JavaScript is eating the software industry and it would be foolish not to pay attention to it. Be it through leading UI frameworks like React or building new applications with Node, a JavaScript developer is versatile and has no shortage of opportunities.

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What does the JavaScript Developer career path entail?

JavaScript Developer

JavaScript is leading the polls – be it as one of the fastest growing, most popular or widest used programming languages. The recent growth of leading UI frameworks, as well as web and cross-device libraries has led to the repeated explosion of JavaScript in popularity.

That also has its effects on the job market: 40% of new development jobs list JavaScript as one of the required or good-to-have skills. Salaries are also changing: Whereas "UI developers" used to be at the lower end of the development salary spectrum, "JavaScript developers" now stand much closer at the top with 6-figure salaries as the average.

And yet, the job market does not seem to be saturated yet. Good developers are needed! Great developers are uniquely situated to get into engineering management positions too.

Table of Contents

Best books to explore the JavaScript career path.

A well-written and thorough book can be an amazing path to build deeper understanding and also act as a handbook as you discover the internet's vast resources.

These are our and our experts top picks to get started building career-relevant skills.

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

For nearly 25 years this best seller has been the go-to guide for JavaScript programmers. The seventh edition is fully updated to cover the 2020 version of JavaScript, and new chapters cover classes, modules, iterators, generators, Promises, async/await, and metaprogramming. You’ll find illuminating and engaging example code throughout.

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Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition

Eloquent JavaScript, 3rd Edition

This much anticipated and thoroughly revised third edition of Eloquent JavaScript dives deep into the JavaScript language to show you how to write beautiful, effective code. It has been updated to reflect the current state of JavaScript and web browsers and includes brand-new material on features like class notation, arrow functions, iterators, async functions, template strings, and block scope.

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A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript

A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript

The author wrote the book and exercises especially for people who are new to programming. Making no assumptions about what you already know, the author walks you through JavaScript slowly, patiently. They explain every little thing in sixth-grade English and avoid unnecessary technical jargon like the plague.

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Effective JavaScript

Effective JavaScript

In order to truly master JavaScript, you need to learn how to work effectively with the language’s flexible, expressive features and how to avoid its pitfalls. No matter how long you’ve been writing JavaScript code, Effective JavaScript will help deepen your understanding of this powerful language, so you can build more predictable, reliable, and maintainable programs.

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Maintainable JavaScript: Writing Readable Code

Maintainable JavaScript: Writing Readable Code

You may have definite ideas about writing code when working alone, but team development requires that everyone use the same approach. With the JavaScript practices in this book—including code style, programming tips, and automation—you will learn how to write maintainable code that other team members can easily understand, adapt, and extend.

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JavaScript: The Good Parts

JavaScript: The Good Parts

Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas, like a programming model based on global variables.

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Courses to deepen your JavaScript skills.

These days, courses are no longer a sequence of videos. They are usually accompanied by projects and a learning community, keeping you accountable and on the path.

Our experts recommend these courses, from free selections to paid programs.

The Complete JavaScript Course 2020

The Complete JavaScript Course 2020

Become an advanced, confident, and modern JavaScript developer from scratch. Build 6 beautiful real-world projects for your portfolio (not boring toy apps). Complex concepts like the 'this' keyword, higher-order functions, closures, etc. This best-selling course can truly take you from zero to one at a reasonable rate!

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JavaScript 30

JavaScript 30

Beginner to Intermediate developers and designers who want to become comfortable with both JavaScript fundamentals and working in the DOM without a library. You should already know some JavaScript to start - This isn't a JavaScript 101 course. We learn by application - encountering many new situations while talking about the hows, the whys and the whats that we use to solve them.

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JavaScript: Getting Started

JavaScript: Getting Started

JavaScript is the popular programming language which powers web pages and web applications. If you are new to programming or just new to the language, this course will get you started coding in JavaScript.

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JavaScript: The Advanced Concepts

JavaScript: The Advanced Concepts

Learn modern advanced JavaScript practices and be amongst the top of JavaScript developers. Functional Programming, Inheritance + Prototype Chain, Asynchronous JavaScript + Event Loop and much more is included in this advanced best-selling JS course on Udemy by instructor Andrei Neagoie, who himself used to be a senior software developer

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UI: Advanced JavaScript

UI: Advanced JavaScript

We're obsessed with making the most effective developer education content on the planet. On average, it takes us around 1,900 hours to create a new course. While others prioritize quantity, we optimize for quality. After learning about the topic you'll receive a quiz to make sure you have a solid conceptual understanding before moving on to the hands-on practice.

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Get the guidance you need on the JavaScript Developer career path

There is no better source of accountability and motivation than having a personal mentor. What used to be impossible to find is now just two clicks away! All mentors are vetted & hands-on!

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The JavaScript must-reads you shouldn't miss.

Key articles and posts of industry experts can help you get a better picture of what you are getting into.

In our opinion, these are some must-reads you really shouldn't miss.

Full Stack Developer's Roadmap

It's easy to focus on the front end of web development, but what about the back end? Learning about the back end improves your front end skills. Here are some resources for full stack development that you can save for later.

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JavaScript Visualized: the JavaScript Engine

JavaScript is cool, but how can a machine actually understand the code you've written? As JavaScript devs, we usually don't have to deal with compilers ourselves. However, it's definitely good to know the basics of the JavaScript engine and see how it handles our human-friendly JS code, and turns it into something machines understand!

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70 JavaScript Interview Questions

A collection of 70 real-world JS interview questions, as collected by a full-stack developer in the space. Crucial to go through these as a job hunter and make sure you pass the next interview with flying colors!

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Opportunities and projects in the JavaScript space.

In the end, advancing your career is all about getting the right opportunities at the right time and a good portion of luck.

These are some interesting things going on in the JavaScript space and you probably don't want to miss them.

Write a NPM package

JavaScript and NPM relies on open-source. As a developer, you are in the best position to share your knowledge and share your work. Being a NPM package author also puts you on the radar of companies, so get on this!

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Growing into a Senior JavaScript Developer role pays off – $40,000 up to per year.

Not only is the progression from individual JavaScript Developer to a Senior role a natural progression, it also makes all the difference in your average salary.

On a global average, Senior JavaScript Developer receive a $40,000 salary hike over entry-level JavaScript Developers when they go from individual contributor to senior personnel.

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Related career paths

If you like JavaScript careers, you might also be interested in these other career paths.

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