No Longer a Frontend Engineer
I’m planning to write a longer post on this soon, but the core idea came up again during the open house:
Being “just a frontend engineer” is losing value.
Yes, some companies are still hiring frontend engineers. But even inside companies, these roles are changing fast.
The last React code I personally wrote was six months ago.
AI agents today can already generate 7/10 quality frontend code for most common tasks. There are exceptions, of course. If you work on hard frontend problems like dev tooling, infrastructure, performance, or design systems at scale, your work is still highly specialized.
But for the majority of frontend engineers, that is not the day-to-day reality.
So the question is:
What do we do now?
Move Closer to the Customer/User
I’m personally moving toward more client-facing work.
This is one area where AI still cannot fully replace humans. You need actual human-to-human interaction to understand context, build trust, handle ambiguity, and deliver the right outcome for clients.
Some roles that sit closer to this direction are:
- Product Engineer
- Forward Deployed Software Engineer
- DevRel / Developer Advocate
- Implementation Consultant
- Solutions Engineer
- Design Engineer, though I don’t strongly recommend this because it is still quite niche
The common theme is simple:
Don’t just write code. Help solve business and customer problems.
The Job Market Is Brutal
The market is tough right now, and it will likely stay tough for a while.
Having three to four months of savings should be the norm. If you lose your job today, it may take three to four months to find your next role.
You will find one, but it will take time.
Don’t Start With Interview Prep
A common mistake is jumping straight into interview preparation.
Don’t do that.
First, focus on getting interviews.
Your initial energy should go into:
- becoming more visible
- reaching out to people
- finding companies that are actively hiring
- creating a target company checklist
- applying with intent
Timebox Your Applications
Do not apply randomly.
Timebox your job applications.
Spend one to two focused hours every day at a fixed time. Outside of that window, don’t apply.
This helps you avoid panic-applying and forces you to send higher-quality applications.
Prepare Only After You Have Interviews
Once you have interviews lined up, talk to the recruiter and understand the full process.
Ask:
- How many DSA rounds are there?
- How many live coding rounds are there?
- Are there system design rounds?
- Are there AI-assisted coding rounds?
- What does the full interview loop look like?
From what I’m seeing, many companies are reducing traditional DSA. It is often down to one round, while the rest of the process is becoming more practical and AI-focused.
AI-Assisted Interviews Are Coming
Companies are increasingly giving candidates a sandbox environment with an AI assistant, similar to Cursor.
You are expected to solve the problem using AI, but not by asking it directly for the answer.
The evaluation is more about:
- how you approach the problem
- how you break it down
- how you use AI effectively
- how you debug
- how you reason through trade-offs
This is a different skill from traditional interview prep.
Final Thought
The frontend role is not disappearing overnight.
But the role of a frontend engineer is changing.
Writing UI code alone is no longer enough.
The people who will do well are the ones who can combine engineering with product thinking, customer understanding, communication, and AI-assisted execution.
So optimize in the right order:
Get interviews first. Prepare for the actual interview process next.
This blog post was quickly AI-generated written by me using the sticky notes from the live session. Do join our discord community to get early access to the live sessions.