Nathan Pickard

Software Engineer -
Crafting software with #JavaScript, #TypeScript, #Angular, #React

Sharing software engineering tips/tricks, news, and insights!

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Wondering which #npm packages and web technologies are getting the most usage and downloads? Check out @tan_stack's interactive "stats" page where you can easily see which frameworks, tools, etc. are getting the most usage among developers:
https://t.co/2Pj9oVo2eo 📈📊

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Deciding which frontend framework to use for your next project? Check out Stack Match! Compare performance, maintainability, scalability, and a ton of other metrics across all the major frontend JS frameworks. Super handy and insightful!
https://t.co/rVc1kg4Igu
#javascript

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Had a blast at @CascadiaJS 2026 last week! Great talks, awesome people, and a fresh dose of optimism about where the web and AI are headed.
@theo's closing keynote "It's time to rethink everything" was the perfect ending. Huge thanks to the organizers, speakers, and sponsors!

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Portland families leave $10k–$25k in public benefits unclaimed yearly. So at the #AIPortland Build Challenge #hackathon, I built an app to fix it!

In seconds, it screens for 20 federal, state, county, & city programs.

Check out "PDX Benefits Navigator":
https://t.co/cMBs3Fv2ia

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Super excited to be attending @CascadiaJS 2026 next month in Seattle! Tons of awesome speakers, workshops, networking opportunities, and more!
Pretty much my favorite conference. Get your ticket now! See you there! 💻🌲
#javascript #AI
https://t.co/zOwERyGqJU

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Great blog post on @FrontendMasters from @chriscoyier - What to Know in JavaScript (2026 Edition)
Covers everything from the latest in ECMAScript to Meta Frameworks. Definitely worth checking out to stay up to date on the #JavaScript ecosystem in 2026!
https://t.co/qBilqIANiY

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Built a VS Code extension at @ClaudeAI's Portland hackathon in 2.5 hours 🎉
CodeReel generates animated, step-by-step walkthroughs of your code right inside your editor. Great for ramping up on unfamiliar codebases fast!
Code is live on GitHub:
https://t.co/DBd9bCalag
#AI #claude

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Learned a lot about the Kiro IDE and CLI at the Portland #AWS User Group meetup last night! An awesome agentic AI-powered IDE with spec-driven development and 'Powers' that give agents dynamic context loading beyond traditional MCPs. Try it!
@kirodotdev
https://t.co/8GMU95R6pC

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Had a great time at the Silicon Forest Tech Summit this past weekend!
Tons of great speakers from all corners of the industry, interesting demos, and insightful chats with attendees.
I encourage everyone to attend and take part of local meetups and conferences whenever they can!

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Excited to go to the Silicon Forest Tech Summit tomorrow!

Should an insightful event to learn more about the latest #tech news and innovation happening in the Pacific Northwest and beyond! Not to mention connecting with community and industry leaders!

https://t.co/AQP6MyQwuS

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Having CSS headaches? Came across @moderncss that cleanly shows old CSS hacks side by side with their more modern equivalents. Tons of clear examples, code snippets, and listed browser support. Also a comprehensive reference page of 700+ properties! ⭐
https://t.co/S1OqDT1Xce

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Curious which #JavaScript projects/tools/libraries had the most added stars on #GitHub in the past year?
Look to 2025's JavaScript Rising Stars!
Nice to see the actual tools for web-based engineering being highlighted! Not just another AI focused project!
https://t.co/DTt16hLrhu

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

The "State of JavaScript 2025" is out!
After thousands of submissions from the JavaScript community around the world, we have the results of which libraries, JS features, and AI tools engineers are looking forward to, currently using, and what's trending!
https://t.co/u1fkMAA00U

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

This post from @matheusml does a great job of discussing what actually makes a senior software engineer "senior".
Asking the question of "What problem are we actually trying to solve?" is something I've done quite a bit myself in my career 🤔
https://t.co/46TyzCpUEg

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Go check out "Gently Down the Stream - A Gentle Introduction to Apache Kafka" from the folks at Round Robin Publishing! A thoughtfully made book to get a high level overview of Kafka. Features light animation! Great for beginners and children alike! 🦦 📖
https://t.co/GGWQETbSco

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Learned a lot from the re:Invent recap at the Portland #AWS User Group meetup last night! Tons of interesting developments in the AI space
Check out https://t.co/gkIcv7282y and try creating an AI-generated app for yourself, like a movie recommendation or explore new recipes app!

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

Nice post from @chriscoyier that delves into the "relatively new things" in HTML that are worth knowing about heading into 2025!
Examples given via Codepen to boot!

https://t.co/DTIjYXc2wi

#html #WebDevelopment

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

The results from the 2023 State of JavaScript survey are now available! Interesting to see that 32% of those surveyed use #typescript 100% of the time!
Go check out what features folks are using most, what libraries are popular, and much more! https://t.co/p1UJ8HZIGe
#javascript

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

The folks at @FrontendMasters have an excellent resource for all things front end related, The Front End Developer Handbook! Everything from foundational concepts to advanced engineering topics, this #opensource handbook has it all! 📘 #javascript #webdev
https://t.co/gODCSl4KsD

[Nathan Pickard @NathanPickard]

One of the best books for learning #javascript is now in it's fourth edition in 2024, "Eloquent Javascript"
Everything from functions to handling events are covered in this excellent resource that is available to read for free online! Check it out! 📙🌟
https://t.co/NzPU3hLdGs