The JavaScript division was formed in 2018 and has quickly scaled to become the 4th largest division in Godel. JS in Godel is not only about code, but the division is also formed of brilliant teams that come together with their mutual energy for new ideas.

Artur Basak is a Lead Software Engineer with extensive experience and skills in engineering management. He recently became a Division Manager with key responsibility for the function’s strategy in the JavaScript division. We spoke to Artur about the latest JavaScript trends and the division’s plans for the future.

What are the biggest JavaScript trends in 2022?

Frameworks like React, Vue.js and Angular are here to stay. React is still the most popular, not only this year but in the near future also. We can also mention other tools like Svelte which has been gaining popularity according to Stack Overflow 2021. But in my opinion, it’s not a very serious competitor against the top three frameworks. A lot of engineers have spoken about it and said it’s a cool tool. But when we are saying about real projects and real requests from customers, it would not usually fall in a list of tools in the list of skills.

We have also seen a growing trend in server-side rendering infrastructure where we can pre-render static content and static front end to improve the performance of their applications, SEO and content management. In this case, tools like Next.js in combination with React.js might be a great choice for SSR (Server-Side Rendering) that helps to solve such issues.

I believe TypeScript will increase its presence on projects and will gain more trust with React.js and Vue.js projects despite the fact that it exclusively started with the only Angular community. The reality is that many use it, including backend engineers on both sides of front and back end. We are seeing that JavaScript programming language is always introducing new features which is cool. It’s an up-to-date language but it still doesn’t have any mechanisms to solve type issues, and this is where TypeScript solves this. That’s why a lot of engineers are choosing TypeScript.

What are the most popular front-end JavaScript frameworks with Godel Clients?

We are seeing our internal pictures mirror the same world picture. In the first place, React.js, sometimes with a combination of Next.js. Our top three frameworks are React, Vue.js and Angular. This is the picture now and I can see it being the same in the future. When a new client approaches us, the technical teams come to us with a specific skill set with a specific list of technologies. In some cases, we will suggest or advise something.

How has the division grown over the past 4 years?

The division has grown from a small group of people 4 years ago to the 4th biggest division at Godel. We have a wide range of experts in all trending frameworks and tools. As I’ve mentioned before, we have Angular engineers, Vue.js engineers, and a lot of React engineers.

We have also seen seniority increase a lot within the division. We have a truly diverse department with our engineers who work in our various locations and offices in Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. The JavaScript division is currently participating in almost 50 engagements at Godel.

What are the JavaScript division plans for this year?

We want to see the development of a more international and diverse culture inside our division because we have a lot of offices in different countries. We will be excited to extend the division as we open new offices and locations at Godel. We also plan to increase our local recruitment for engineers in Poland and Lithuania as we expand across Europe. This will make our division more inclusive and diverse – I think it’s an interesting direction.

What do you see as your biggest challenge?

Overall, we have a great division where our engineers are actively working on projects to make a great contribution to the impact and success of our client’s businesses. I would like to see an increase in our division’s involvement in the internal activities of our functions including talent acquisition, talent management, innovation and some engineering communities within Godel. The JavaScript division has delivered fantastic results on our engagements, but we should also involve people internally with some interesting initiatives, including a podcast I personally started recently.

Another thing we would like to see introduced in our division is a community interested in web accessibility, where we will come together to discuss core topics. We are also trying to integrate more dialogues to enable the teams to share experiences of their skills with our junior engineers and mastery students.