Nathan Liu

Important Update for React Developers As of February 14, 2025, Create React App (CRA) has officially been deprecated. For those of us who have relied on CRA since its inception in 2016, this news marks a significant shift in how we approach building React applications. Why Was CRA Deprecated? CRA was a groundbreaking tool that simplified the process of setting up new React projects. However, several factors contributed to its decline: Lack of Maintenance: Since 2021, CRA has seen minimal updates and support. This stagnation made it increasingly difficult for the tool to adapt to the rapidly evolving React ecosystem. Compatibility Issues: The release of React 19 highlighted significant compatibility problems within CRA. Many developers faced frustrating dependency errors, particularly beginners who were still navigating the complexities of React development. Performance Limitations: As applications grew in complexity, CRA's architecture began to show its limitations: It bundled everything into a single file, leading to slower performance for larger projects. The reliance on Webpack resulted in longer build times compared to more modern alternatives. Features like hot module replacement (HMR) were not as efficient, impacting the overall development experience. Why Are Alternatives Like Vite and Next.js Better? With CRA's deprecation, it’s essential to consider modern alternatives that can provide a more robust development experience: Vite: This tool has emerged as a leading alternative for those looking for speed and efficiency. Vite offers: Faster Development: Its lightning-fast startup and hot module replacement capabilities significantly enhance the development workflow. Optimized Builds: Vite produces smaller bundle sizes and faster builds, making it ideal for both small and large applications. Simplicity: With minimal configuration needed, developers can focus on building features rather than wrestling with setup. Next.js: For those requiring more advanced features, Next.js is an excellent choice: Server-Side Rendering (SSR): This feature improves SEO and performance by pre-rendering pages on the server. Static Site Generation (SSG): Next.js allows developers to generate static pages at build time, which can lead to faster load times and better user experiences. Integrated Routing and API Support: Next.js simplifies navigation and backend functionality without needing additional libraries. Moving Forward The deprecation of Create React App is an opportunity for developers to embrace newer tools that better align with modern web development practices. Transitioning to Vite or Next.js not only addresses the limitations of CRA but also equips developers with powerful features that enhance performance and scalability. #webdevelopement #react #cra

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I want to share my insights from my job hunt with you. I was looking for 8 months and the job market I was facing was rather brutal. It took a long time for me to finally land the awesome role I ended up finding at Qwadra Vancouver. Some of you might've already seen this chart, it's a Sankey diagram of my job applications. As you can see, I faced an overwhelming amount of rejections. My rate of interview invites for job applications was less than 1%. So right away my biggest takeaway is - the job market sucks. It's not just you. If you're currently looking and struggling, remember that this is not a reflection of you. Take breaks, go on walks, socialize, and remember that there's only so much you can do. Now, knowing the job market sucks, here's my next insight: every job gets hundreds of applications, so the earlier you can get in, the better. One of my new colleagues phrased it best: It's better to apply for 10 minutes every day, than for an hour only on the weekend. I don't want to advise against taking the time to read job postings and writing CVs. Do both. But out of the 11 interviews I got, I had only written a CV for one of the applications, so there's that. The other insight I have: gather data. I tracked every application I sent by writing down the company, position, and where I applied, in a Google Doc. Just from that I have found that my Indeed applications were getting roughly 3x the responses as my LinkedIn applications. For developers, I can recommend creating a web portfolio to improve your web presence. I added Google Analytics to mine, and it's awesome. I can see which project pages get the most attention, traffic over time, and which applications got clicks. Finally, if you're a designer or developer, stay active. Find projects to work on that you enjoy, and share them with the world. I found my open-source projects and contributions on GitHub helped me stay motivated, and they seem to have impressed recruiters as well. I got feedback from happy users of those projects, which felt amazing, and I made new connections with people interested in collaboration. I'd also like to recommend a few tools. AI tools like ChatGPT can not only help write better CVs, they can help brainstorm skills to learn for certain industries, research companies, and prepare for job interviews. You can start a conversation by writing about yourself and the role, and then switch to your phone and practice an interview verbally with the ChatGPT mobile app, and even get feedback tailored to your application based on the information you provided. For developers I highly recommend the Cursor IDE, which is like GitHub Copilot on steroids. I can also recommend using ATS scanners, like Resumeworded, and lastly, I'll plug my own web browser extension Hide Applied Jobs LinkedIn to clean up your LinkedIn search results. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or would like to vent! And don't let this tough job market get you down, you got this! 💪🔥

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Expanding the ‘art of the possible’ with AiDE Agents: From initial concept to a running #ReactJS app in under 5 minutes. Not just for greenfield applications, but for legacy, brownfield codebases too! AiDE Agents can be used to accelerate software engineering workflows, translating user stories and #Figma designs from #JIRA tickets directly into a functional preview. * Design-to-code conversion with immediate feedback loops for precise #UI alignment. * Automated debugging and iterative refinement without manual intervention. * Instant validation through auto-executed previews, ensuring fidelity to the original design intent. Check out the demo here: https://lnkd.in/d8BwTc5b #AiDE #TheAiDEPlatform #DigitalTransformation #GenAI #GenerativeAI #Agent #DoingTheRightThing #ValueLabs

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The invisible productivity tax. Every engineering leader I speak to knows it well. A simple UI change should be a quick merge, but instead, it breaks dozens of automated tests. Your build goes red. Deployments stall. Someone has to stop what they're doing and spend the next few hours hunting down selectors. Our data shows teams lose an average of 15 minutes per broken locator. Do the math across dozens of tests and hundreds of UI changes, and you're looking at hundreds of hours spent maintaining tests instead of shipping features. So we at BrowserStack built the Self-Healing Agent. It automatically identifies and fixes broken locators the moment they happen, whether you're using Selenium, Playwright, or Appium across web and mobile apps. It offers both instant remediation and transparent logs, showing exactly how locators were fixed, and even auto-proposes permanent code updates to strengthen your test suites. Teams are seeing up to 40% reduction in automation build failures. Available now on Automate, App Automate and Low Code Automation: https://lnkd.in/dchB595C

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In the last few years, I learned 5 lessons from working in software development through burnout and overwhelm. 1. Burnout isn’t always obvious - It can creep in even when you love what you’re doing and everything feels energizing. It can be sneaky. 2. Small signals matter - For me, simple tasks (like taking vitamins or making the bed) suddenly felt impossible, and that was my warning sign. Look for your warning signs early. 3. Awareness is the turning point - Naming burnout is the first step to recovering and building healthier habits. Can't notice it? Hard to act on it. 4. Life happens in seasons - You won't always stick to your perfect schedule. Curve balls will come. Life happens. Adapt and show yourself some kindness. 5. Boundaries help everyone - Being the go-to person feels great, but setting boundaries lets your team grow and keeps you from drowning. Each of these changed how I listen to myself and adjust my priorities. Which one resonates most with your experience? ---- 📨 Sign up for my email newsletter! 🗣️ Share with your network!

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So interesting... the sample size is small, so we'll see how other studies present, but this article suggests that AI coding assistants don't make us much faster. There's some data in here that suggests they do if you are practiced with them, but 30% more, not even 100% more (2x). In my experience AI can get new ideas bootstrapped quickly but it starts to get confused with the code base gets larger. It requires developer skill to get more out of it. For existing or large codebases, you need to focus it with good requirements documents and let it go in "agent" mode. I think our workflows need to change as these tools evolve to make best use of them. https://lnkd.in/gwUTBehz

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Creating SDK documentation that truly enhances the developer experience requires following a set of established best practices. These principles extend beyond just writing; they also involve the design of the SDK, the quality of the examples provided, and the overall documentation process. My latest PDF outlines these principles for creating effective SDK documentation. Take a look to learn more about the best practices for SDK documentation.

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💔 I believe nearly half of the interviewed applicants we had to reject at Mulai Coding Inc. were probably just as qualified as those who got in. The main reason? We just couldn’t see it during the interview. Our cohorts are very small relative to the demand we get, which means we inevitably have to turn away some incredible candidates. So, I’d like to share the two biggest tips I've seen from our most successful students, so you can stand out in our admissions process: 1.) Know exactly what you want. The students we’ve helped get into MIT and even NASA aren’t just high achievers—they deeply knew what they wanted. They know exactly why they’re applying and how our program at Mulai Coding Inc. fits into their long-term goals. Just like the top colleges, we are looking for intellectually curious people who desperately want to be in a place where they can learn as much as possible. So, before your interview, take a moment to reflect on why you applied to us in the first place and understand specifically how we can help you achieve your goals. If you can clearly articulate your “why,” then you’re already halfway there! 2.) Articulate yourself well. The interview will only last 10 minutes, and every applicant will be asked different questions depending on their background, so be ready to talk about yours! These don’t have to be coding-related—we'd love to hear your academic wins, olympiad awards, leadership roles, or even personal projects. The common theme? Ambition and intellectual curiosity. Here’s how to show up well in the interview: - Don’t overthink it. You don’t need perfect words or a polished script. - Don’t memorize answers—it sounds robotic and disconnected. - Don’t try to impress us with fancy buzzwords. It doesn’t work. Ultimately, this interview is about showing us who you really are and whether you’d thrive in Mulai Coding Inc.'s small cohort of the world's most ambitious high school students. So, speak like you’re talking to a friend who genuinely wants to understand what excites you—be thoughtful, honest, and yourself!

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