How Frontend Mentor Shaped My Conversion Skills

Self-learning became essential, although at the time I wasn’t fully aware of it — I was simply going with the flow of whatever information was spoon-fed to us in class. That changed when I came across a video by Kevin Powell.



I was working on a laggy laptop with a battery that wouldn’t even charge. Still, that video sparked something in me. I was a third-year student with a looming thesis deadline and a very limited byte of knowledge. At that point, I only knew the basics of HTML and CSS — no understanding of semantics or responsiveness. That’s when I decided to begin my journey by trying my first Frontend Mentor challenge.



Frontend Mentor is a platform that helps developers practice translating designs into code. They offer challenges ranging in difficulty — from newbie to guru — perfect for someone like me three years ago who didn’t know where to start. Without any prior experience, I dove headfirst into my first challenge. It wasn’t even a full page — just a single section.



Building that challenge was incredibly satisfying. As a beginner, there was no pressure — it felt like a passion project, with nothing at stake. I was at rock bottom, so every little thing I learned felt like a huge improvement. I didn’t even know what Flexbox or Grid were when I started.



Submitting the challenge was a challenge in itself — it required deployment. Naive and uncertain, I had to figure out where and how to deploy even a small project. That’s when I discovered the real power of research. It became clear that whenever I felt stuck, the Internet was my guiding light. I ended up deploying my first project using GitHub Pages.



What I also appreciated about Frontend Mentor was their encouragement to document your work in the README file provided with each challenge. When you submit a solution, the platform also performs basic checks for accessibility and semantic HTML, offering helpful suggestions. On top of that, other developers can leave feedback and respond to the struggles you list when submitting your work.



Over time, I continued working on new challenges. After completing one, I would start another with a completely different approach — trying out new CSS properties, learning proper HTML semantics, deploying on different platforms, and experimenting with JavaScript interactivity.



I went from not knowing how to center a div to understanding Flexbox and Grid in depth. Solving Frontend Mentor challenges made me realize just how deep the iceberg goes. And writing this blog reminds me how much more there is to learn — and how eager I am to explore even more advanced concepts and technologies.



If there’s one takeaway I want to share from this blog, it’s that being a student developer requires a fire — whether it’s through a passion project, an experiment, or simply learning beyond the curriculum. Now, working in the industry, I can confidently say that Frontend Mentor helped me realize that knowledge is limitless. Even after completing a challenge, there’s always something new to discover.



Before I end this post, I want to thank the Frontend Mentor team for building a platform that makes learning frontend development addictive and fun. And of course, thanks to Kevin Powell, whose content brought clarity, motivation, and inspiration to me and countless others.





Written by, Lois Floro (Frontend Developer)