What Does a Software Engineer Do?
What a software engineer does day to day, from understanding requirements and writing code to testing, maintenance, teamwork, and long‑term system improvement.
Articles
Guides, page 14 of 20
This is a relatively generic and broad category where I attempt to offer guidance or instruction on more‑or‑less anything related to front‑end and web development.
Below you will find a subset of articles from my blog specifically about Guides. This is an area I have worked with for many years, and it has been a regular subject in my writing. There are three hundred forty‑nine articles collected together for you below.
What Does a Software Engineer Do? 
How to Find a Programmer Job. How to Find a Programmer Job
It is fair to say that the programming and technology job markets are fairly buoyant, and now has never been a better time to make a career change.
Preview Mode in Next.js with a Headless CMS. Preview Mode in Next.js with a Headless CMS
Preview Mode in Next.js explained with a headless CMS, draft content workflows, preview cookies, and how editors can see unpublished pages safely.
Detecting and Dealing with Website Theft. Detecting and Dealing with Website Theft
Website theft is frustrating, but there are practical ways to spot it and respond. This guide covers copied text, copied code, and escalation options.
Disabling Gatsby Telemetry. Disabling Gatsby Telemetry
Disable Gatsby telemetry cleanly, with context on what anonymous analytics collect, why teams opt out, and how the setting affects local and CI work.
Removing p Tags from Contentful List Items. Removing
pTags from Contentful List ItemsOne of the quirks of rendering Rich Text from Contentful is that list items come wrapped in paragraph <p> tags. Fortunately, this is a simple one to resolve.
Rendering Contentful Rich Code Snippets in Gatsby. Rendering Contentful Rich Code Snippets in Gatsby
Contentful rich text and Gatsby work well together until code snippets enter the picture. This guide shows how to render inline and block code cleanly.
What are Array‑Like Objects in JavaScript? What are Array‑Like Objects in JavaScript?
An exploration of array‑like objects in JavaScript. Explanations of their unique characteristics and how to navigate them easily in front‑end development.
Replace Inline Styles in Gatsby with an External CSS File. Replace Inline Styles in Gatsby with an External CSS File
Replace Gatsby inline styles with an external stylesheet when needed, weighing render speed, caching, CSS Modules, styled‑components, and cleaner output.
Why I’m the Best Choice for Web Development Near You. Why I'm the Best Choice for Web Development Near You
Based in Brighton, I offer expert web development services in the South East. With 21+ years' experience, I deliver tailored, future‑proof solutions.
Disabling Source Maps in Gatsby for Production. Disabling Source Maps in Gatsby for Production
Although an extremely useful aspect of Gatsby, source maps cause a performance hit as well as leaving your source exposed. Here is how to turn them off!
Image Optimisation with next/image. Image Optimisation with
next/image`next/image` explained with responsive sizing, lazy loading, layout shift reduction, and why image optimisation matters in real Next.js applications.
Dynamic Imports and Code Splitting in Next.js. Dynamic Imports and Code Splitting in Next.js
Dynamic imports and code splitting in Next.js explained with `next/dynamic`, lazy‑loaded components, SSR trade‑offs, and when splitting really helps.
Understanding getStaticPaths in Next.js. Understanding
getStaticPathsin Next.js`GetStaticPaths` in Next.js explained with dynamic routes, pre‑rendered paths, fallback behaviour, and how static generation works for slug‑based pages.
GetStaticProps vs. getServerSideProps in Next.js. getStaticPropsvs.getServerSidePropsin Next.js`GetStaticProps` vs. `getServerSideProps` in Next.js explained with build‑time and request‑time data fetching, trade‑offs, and practical page examples.
Building Custom Hooks in React. Building Custom Hooks in React
Building custom hooks in React explained with reusable stateful logic, naming rules, composition examples, and why hooks share logic rather than state.
What is a Static Site Generator? What is a Static Site Generator?
Static site generation has continued to grow and grow in popularity. I try and explain what one is, and why it might be suitable to you or your project.
Static Generation vs. Server‑Side Rendering in Next.js. Static Generation vs. Server‑Side Rendering in Next.js
Compare static generation and server‑side rendering in Next.js through freshness, request‑time data, performance, SEO, operational cost, and page intent.
