I'd suggest getting a solid understanding of the core front end technologies: HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript. If you can't build reasonably complex websites w

I'd suggest getting a solid understanding of the core front end technologies: HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript. If you can't build reasonably complex websites without the crutch of a framework or a more complex tool chain, then you've probably missed out on getting the basics right. You should also learn about UX and design. I met a self appointed frontend developer recently, who didn't have any understanding of what a good designer does. This led to some really horrible conflicts where core design decisions got ignored (the developer thought they knew better) and the end result was a mess. Designers are your friend when working as a frontend developer and will help to make sure that the end product is both well built and actually useful for the users. Read: https://gdstechnology.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/19/why-we-use-progressive-enhancement-to-build-gov-uk/ https://gdstechnology.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/19/why-we-use-prog... If you're building frontend your job is to make sure that your audience can use it. There's no reason not to learn and use fun tech, we all like play and make our own development lives easier, but your users must always come first. If you can do all of that then you'll be able to do a pretty good job as a frontend developer. Picking up the latest and greatest frameworks is really quite easy once you understand how JS and the DOM works. You'll have the added advantage of being able to critique new tools as well.