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Radoslav Kosev

QA Engineer

Full Stack Developer

CEO & Co-Founder

Web Developer

Mira Ereeva

Growth Manager

From the newest startup news in Europe to how technology is affected by politics, Lexis Solutions recommends the seven best podcasts to listen to if you are interested in what's happening in the European tech world. 

## 1. The Tech Brief by Euractiv

[The Tech Brief](https://podcasts.apple.com/be/podcast/the-tech-brief/id1505998625) gives you an insight into all digital things in the EU; it is a weekly update of the biggest European tech news in the world of politics and policy. EURACTIV Digital & Media Editor [Luca Bertuzzi](https://twitter.com/BertuzLuca) runs it. 

![Tech-Brief](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/34Io78SHBFqB3xAUB2aSkT/58048689bad6a4b7bac69f8193d71b3c/Tech-Brief.png)

## 2. Innovators Can Laugh by Eric Melchor

[Innovators Can Laugh](https://www.innovatorscanlaugh.com/) is for those interested in Startups from the European Tech Scene. The podcast consists of fun and casual interview-style discussions with visionary leaders and founders from Europe. Unlike ordinary entrepreneurial-related podcasts, Eric Melchor is the only American host interviewing fresh faces of European entrepreneurship and innovation. You can listen to new episodes every Thursday.

![innovators can laugh](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/3tHZ778nit5BIA4yBb5KMl/fa9c4bccd7da291c94fd0993f68f5dc6/innovators_can_laugh.jpeg)

*P.S. His very last interview is with a Bulgarian startup founder! Remember to check it!*

## 3. Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast

[Every week](https://podcast.sifted.eu/), Amy Lewin and Eleanor Warnock will dive into the latest news of Europe's tech and startup sector. From cutting-edge technology to massive funding rounds and the newest company scandals. The two editors also bring the big names and rising stars of Europe's tech sector to their audience.

![startup europe](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/7g1jjx9qiahPT749EK07GL/3803306a29d25e4b93c964dd0f7bf85b/startup_europe.jpeg)

## 4. Life on Mars

[Life on Mars](https://podcast.marsbased.com/) is a podcast by the Spanish MarsBased. Every two weeks, they launch a new episode - you can listen to great stories from founders, investors, experts, and celebrities around the galaxy. 

![life on mars](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/12m5yo3qxkfMtCXVhBFcz0/b5ee96e2cb6444104621c59854ab2feb/life_on_mars.jpeg)

## 5. Tech.eu

[Tech.eu](https://tech.eu/tag/podcast/) is dedicated to the growing European technology ecosystem(s). You can listen to educational interviews with movers and shakers from Europe.

![tech eu](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/6f1jFLQVLWIJkiGCXPkUvm/d32cf9468e91ff450934f9a26833117b/1200x600wp.png)

## 6. Baltic Startup Mafia 

[Baltic Startup Mafia](https://anchor.fm/baltic-startup-mafia/) is a podcast where anyone can get quick and easy access to startup news from three countries in the Baltic region: Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

![baltic startup mafia](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/1CoOdtK57rVB6xfswvrS0W/2c4b71ef2fe41aec57083fcf2ce9bc68/baltic_startup_mafia.jpeg)

## 7. The European Startup Show

The purpose of [The European Startup Show](https://www.europeanstartupshow.com/) is to inspire technology entrepreneurs in Europe with stories and practical strategies from other successful entrepreneurs.

![the european startup show](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/1md7aoxgTa0vSepNx5iwsQ/331ec403abf5608901f361da4660fd63/the_european_startup_show.jpeg)

## And here are the best tech Bulgarian podcasts (at least in our opinion): 

### DEVCAST

[DEVCAST ](https://devcast.bg/)is a community-driven podcast of Bulgaria's largest online dev community - DevBG. Developers make it for developers. Or rather, a podcast by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. 

### HackCast

[HackCast](https://www.hackcast.fm/) is the official podcast created by the HackSoft team. The idea of the podcast is to share exciting content about programming, soft skills, and everything happening in the company & that might be interesting to them or the listeners.

### Job Board Talks by DEV.BG

[The DEV. BG podcast](https://dev.bg/digest/dev-bg-job-board-talks-episode1/) Job Board Talks is their newest project by which they want to support the career development of the professionals in the I.T. industry. DEV. BG talks openly about looking for and finding work in the I.T. sector, upgrading technical and other valuable skills, and sharing observations and data from their Job Board with you.

*Read next: '[Working in Software Development: 7 Books to Colour your Success](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/working-in-software-development-7-%20books-to-colour-your-success)'* 


Lexis Solutions' favorite podcasts about the European tech world. 

All about The European Tech: 7 Podcasts We Listen to

## What is HTTP?

HTTP is the protocol for text communication that rules the web. It being a protocol means there are strict rules on how it is used and what it can do.

## What is it used for?

HTTP is used for transferring textual information between browsers and servers. This information is needed to load your favorite site, for example. And yes, for every page load the browser initiates an HTTP request and then waits for a response from the server. You rarely notice this non-stop ping-pong communication because the Internet is fast.

##  What is a server?

The server is where the code of the software product you are using lives. It's a computer on steroids that never sleeps and instead waits for requests that it can answer. Legends say that old IT wizards feed it coffee beans so your websites do not crash.

## Are all HTTP requests the same?

No, they are not. In fact, there is an infinite amount of HTTP requests you can make but they do come in just a few breeds. The usual request is a GET request, meaning it only wants to read data from the server. There are also POST, PUT/PATCH, and DELETE requests which can respectively create, update or delete data from the server. By now you noticed that the difference lies in the verb we are using. In the IT world, we call this verb the HTTP request method.

## How do HTTP requests differ?

The most obvious difference would be the URL. Let's take Wikipedia for example. It's homepage is `wikipedia.org` while the wiki page for Mount Everest is `wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest`. And you guessed it - changing Mount_Everest to Matterhorn gives us the URL for the Toblerone Mountain. The full URL is `wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn`.

![Toblerone Logo](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/2kJrgcmgmwxHnivjnrGs7j/8b17712dba1b0325eb42b25c479dbb30/image__1_.png)

We proved that the URL is important but is that all? What else is there that matters? Well, not much that you can see in plain sight, so let's delve one level deeper.

## In-depth URL recap

### HTTP vs HTTPS

URLs actually start with the protocol and for most URLs that's either `http://` or `https://`. The difference lies in the `s` that stands for secure. And this `s` is impactful.

HTTP communication is simply text being transferred over the Internet. If you have access to the internet cable that carries it you could see the text - including your username, password, and payment card information. Sucks, right? The IT wizards thought so too and came up with HTTPS. It's the same old HTTP, however, it travels through the Internet encrypted. This encryption guarantees, through mathematical formulas, that no one but the server can decrypt the text... or at least within the next hundred years or so. I call this safe enough...

### Domain name

After the protocol comes the domain name. In our case that would be `wikipedia.org`.
The domain name is fixed for every site and is unique. There is no other `wikipedia.org` and all the content inside Wikipedia can be found under the `wikipedia.org` domain.

**Disclaimer**

There are things called subdomains and seeing them for the first time may be overwhelming. That's why I wanted to introduce both in advance.
An example of a subdomain is `en.wikipedia.org` and, I am sure, you already figured out that `en.` indicates the English version of Wikipedia. There is also `es.wikipedia.org` for Spanish, `de.wikipedia.org` for German, and so on.

Subdomains are an advanced topic and internationalization is just one of the possible applications. Stay tuned for the advanced article to learn more.

### Path params

Let's review the 'Everest vs Matterhorn' example yet again.
`wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Everest`
`wikipedia.org/wiki/Matterhorn`

Can you see the pattern? It's `wikipedia.org/wiki/{some-mountain}`. Arguably, if you replace `{some-mountain}` with the name of a mountain it should work. Let's try with K2 - the second-highest mountain... and indeed `https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K2` works!

![K2](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/iUL65WJjFlV4duBTknhMs/80d16b56d78c657da58bef9d5c12b667/k2.png)

`{some-mountain}` is in fact a placeholder for the thing you want to view at Wikipedia. And it's not only mountains - it could be everything, like people and planets:
`https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein`
`https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth`

The proper IT name for this placeholder is a path param. URLs are not limited to having only one, however, things get confusing with multiple and we will leave that out of this article.

### Query params

Query params are not required but are extremely useful and easy to wrap your head around. They always start with `?` and come in pairs separated by `=`. Let's not get too technical and continue with an example of a tire shop website.

The thought experiment begins with the domain `best-tires.com` and the query params `?season=winter`. This gives us a complete URL of `best-tires.com?season=winter`. What will the server do?

The server parses the path param pair `season=winter` as `season` - the path param name and `winter` - the path param value. We have probably guessed the URL for viewing the shop's winter collection. Let's switch to the summer on and select tires that cost less than 200 but more than 200.
The URL this time is as follows: `best-tires.com?season=summer&currency=USD&min_price=150&max_price=200`

We obviously sent multiple query params, one for each of our filters, and separated them by the rules - with an `&`.
The server parsed the following tire requirements:
- *season* is *summer*
- *currency* is *USD*
- *minimum price* is *150*
- *maximum price* is *200*

Our dream server may handle more query params than we can handle so let’s put a stop here.  What's important is to remember that query params are extremely useful for filtering and always stay at the end of the URL.

### Non-URL customization

There are two hidden ways for modifying the HTTP requests that I want to show you. One is via headers and the other is through the body. I won't go into much detail here so bear with me.

### Headers

Request headers are hidden for a purpose as they mainly provide the server with context. For example - the browser and OS you are using or the cookie that proves you successfully logged in 5 minutes ago.

Server responses have headers too and some are incredibly handy. The one that comes to mind is responsible for automatically setting the cookie for you. Just imagine having to pass a secret code every time you want to view a new webpage...

There are also headers that increase the site's security or others that let your browser perform faster through caching. All in all, headers are extremely underrated because they operate under the hood and without causing issues.

### Body

The request body is the place to put user input into. Its size limit is huge (in comparison to the query params) and is also hidden for the normal user. It's perfect for sending your huge comment, or this article, over the Internet. However, the body is a special place that requests of the GET method name cannot access. They must rather use query params for user-provided data.

## Conclusion

HTTP rules the web and now you understand the king a little bit better. We are cooking up an article for those of you that want to experiment with HTTP so stay tuned for more. And until then have patience while surfing the Internet. Requesting and responding may sometimes take time.


HTTP is one of the most impactful technologies that work flawlessly and is surprisingly easy to understand. You don't believe me? Give it a shot!

Beginner-friendly HTTP Requests

Some time ago, Lexis Solutions presented you [with a list of free resources for all UI designers](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/free-resources-for-resourceful-UI-designers). Now, our company has prepared one of the best free tools for content creators - some we use ourselves every time for our blog articles and highly recommend. 

## Good grammar is sexy

Always put editing and proofreading first! If the grammar in your copy is terrible - all the effort you might have put into research, visuals, etc., will become meaningless. So make sure there are no spelling mistakes, repeated words, or missing commas!

- [Grammarly](https://app.grammarly.com/) is a cloud-based typing assistant that reviews spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, engagement, and delivery mistakes in English texts. The platform also detects plagiarism. 
- [The Hemingway App](https://hemingwayapp.com/) is an editor that highlights and corrects grammar, fluency, and sentence structure to help your writing read and look better. It's a self-editing tool that allows you to write more concisely.

## What is going on in the world right now?

Trends come and go - but it is better to notice them on time. Here are some websites where you could easily, and most importantly for free, see what the world is trending around. 

- [Google Trends](https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=BG) analyzes the popularity of top search queries in Google Search across various regions and languages. The website uses graphs to compare the search volume of different questions over time.
- [AlsoAsked.com](https://alsoasked.com/) organizes and displays "People Also Ask" data in Google search results. You can interact with this data on the site to explore it and export it to image graphs for quick presentation to clients or into CSV format to process it with other tools, saving a tremendous amount of time.
- [Answer The Public](https://answerthepublic.com/) is a keyword tool that visualizes search questions and suggests autocomplete searches in an image called a search cloud. Categories consist of the 5 Ws, plus 'how,' 'can,' 'are,' 'which,' and 'will.'

## Do looks matter?

The eternal question - do looks matter? Regarding good content - yes, our brains process visual content more easily and 60,000 times faster than text... 

- [Canva ](https://www.canva.com/)is a graphic design platform to create social media graphics, presentations, posters, documents, and other visual content.
- [Remove.bg ](https://www.remove.bg/)allows you to easily erase backgrounds 100% automatically in 5 seconds with only one click.
- With [Piktochart](https://piktochart.com/), you can create professional-looking infographics, flyers, posters, charts, videos, and more.
- The content on [GIPHY](https://giphy.com/)'s website, app, and API is all of the best and most popular GIFs on the web, along with content created by talented GIF artists and world-class brands. 

## Is the podcast the new radio?

Nowadays, we live in a boom for podcasts. Here are some tools you can use to start your podcast career!

- [Audacity](https://www.audacityteam.org/) is an audio recording and editing software application that is open source so that anyone can download it for free with no restrictions of use. This software can: record live audio, cut, copy, splice, or mix sounds, and edit audio files (Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV, or AIFF, to name a few).
- They say [Buzzsprout](https://www.buzzsprout.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce16OdSKxxiJPXHuksJhd9JFzeHGsk7zhIdx4mGyyI4aMhTDeZDomt6saAnc3EALw_wcB) is the easiest way to start a podcast. Its simple-to-use product provides a podcasting platform, promotion tools, and stats to track your podcast. Buzzsprout has tools like a free podcast website for beginners, custom embedded players, and unique social media players for more experienced podcasters.
- [Ardour](http://ardour.org/) is a free, fully-featured digital audio workstation, similar to other software like ProTools, Nuendo, Sonar, and Logic, and capable of replacing analog or digital tape systems. Available for Mac OS X and Linux.

## To cut a long story short… I became a film editor!

- [Lightworks](https://lwks.com/) is a nonlinear editing system for editing and mastering digital video. It was an early developer of computer-based nonlinear editing systems and has been in development since 1989. 
- [iMovie ](https://www.apple.com/imovie/)is a video editing software application developed by Apple. Features include options to modify and enhance video color settings, crop and rotate video clips, stabilize shaky videos, add video transitions, and change the speed of clips.

## Bonus tools:

- [Bitly](https://bitly.com/) is a URL-shortening service and a link management platform. 
- [Buffer](http://buffer.com/) is the perfect tool for scheduling posts - easy to use, and its free plan lets you connect your social media accounts to schedule up to 10 posts per account at a time. 
- [Word Hippo ](https://www.wordhippo.com/what-is/another-word-for/about.html)is a website with helpful vocabulary resources. The resource list includes synonyms, antonyms, word meanings (with example sentences), pronunciation, and rhyming words. Just type in a comment in the top search bar of the website and select which help you want to use.
- [Hashtagify.me](https://hashtagify.me/hashtag/peace) lets you enter a search term and see the trending hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. The platform shows you which high-profile users drive the traffic so you can engage authentically.
- With [Google Analytics](http://www.google.com/analytics/), you can check your website traffic, measure social media efforts, create customized reports, and much more.

**For the best free websites for high-quality pictures, check our article "[Free Resources For Resourceful Web Designers](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/free-resources-for-resourceful-UI-designers)".*

Lexis Solutions' recommendation for the best free tools for content creators. 

Powerful and Free Tools for Content Creation

## My FAQ story 

After going through the rockiest parts of the QA path, I am competent enough to give you some insight into the questions that naturally come up in the training process.

## Reality check

Like many juniors in the Quality Assurance field, I quickly realized that offline and online courses fall short of preparing you for the real world. Plenty of questions that appear trivial at first glance are complex once you scratch beneath the surface. Let’s unpack them one by one.

## Who is the QA? 

QA as a person, is responsible for making sure that all parts of the software work intact both together and separately. QA as a process is the systematic and comprehensive procedures defined and followed by QA specialists. 

![QA-mistakes](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/5vzBacw8fWNfS8JDHFW1R1/c4d496245e48c6d4db33d853889604fe/QA-mistakes.jpg)

## What does a QA do?

In an IT company, a QA would be concerned with tracking the progression and [development process](https://www.lexis.solutions/services/node-js-development) of what is being worked on. He points out what is a good idea and what is not and keeps track of the requirements and tests according to them.

Textbooks say that "QAs ensure that the products customers receive consistently meet or exceed expectations." or perhaps "QAs follow a process that reduces the costs for the stakeholder by ensuring that bugs and inconsistencies are rare and sometimes avoided.". That said, I much prefer bullet points that better depict the actual work being done:

- QAs assist the process in which the "inquiries" transform into a well-structured documentation
- QAs are proactive and responsible for minor changes that play in the big picture that help the project save time and money
- QAs explore the products being tested for a better understanding of the product's business objectives
- QAs identify potential weaknesses at every stage, starting from the planning phase
- QAs measure the user-friendliness of the product (through surveying end users and getting their feedback, for example)
- QAs maintain customer trust through communication with the clients.

## Why are QAs necessary?

As QAs, we possess broader product knowledge and understanding of how to use the system in the way a real user would. We are also accustomed to catching edge-case bugs and have observed first-hand the peculiar ways some individuals use software solutions. Through our skills and experience, we ensure that the product meets the client's requirements and that we have shipped exemplary software. 

![QA-Tester-meme-02](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/70Nyyn6jBp85tz45Fn8oPY/9ed34fb1fa4941b332a02870f9a95564/QA-Tester-meme-02.jpg)

## What is the proper mindset for a QA?

A QA is supposed to be critical to a top point, starting from the planning phase. QAs should also emphasize requirement consistency and speculation of possible problems that might occur before the actual work of the product has begun. During the development phase, a QA is supposed to do mindful testing, mimicking the user behavior while also exploring edge cases. This process is documented, and the main usage scenarios become user stories and flows that need to be tested regularly.

![testing meme12](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/3fx8LYsvqB80Gesetb4vO4/1117042af2e6b42267c755410e88363d/testing_meme12.jpg)

##  Are we so OP to spot all those evil bugs?

No, and that's fine! We are considered an effective QA not by the quantity of discovered bugs but by their severity. So, what we can do to be the best version of ourselves as QA is to be consistent in our working and learning process. 

This means that we sometimes catch all the bugs. But our persistence pays well in the end:
- We become efficient.
- New ideas appear with new projects.
- We get to be more reliable for our colleagues

![there-is-always-one-more-bug-qa-engineer-test-noirty-designs](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/63wOlsXMkkmkW7xVjZjqyP/98a8ec520e1530b7002b6525a0ea9534/IMG_20221101_140527.jpg)

## Bonus: Quick-growth hacks

It is essential to have a sense of continuous and gradual improvement because you risk losing motivation, becoming frustrated, and even giving up without it. Let me share some tips for maintaining a positive attitude and taking control of the training process:

- Mentally prepare for a lot of new information. A LOT. QAs speak their language, and learning it will take time, patience, and consistency.
- Communicate with your seniors constantly. Search for tips and inquire about the correct terms, as there are plenty of them to memorize. You never know what gem might come up in a regular conversation.
- Attempt daily meetings with anybody more experienced than you and chat about the IT world. The common knowledge adds up, and you even make some new friends.
- Spend time on your reading, researching, and googling the topics you’re working on or are about to work on. The most effective learning method is studying something you are interested in. Find where your passion is at the moment and follow it. The QA world is vast, and you will always be able to find a curious topic to delve deeper into.
- Ask questions. Ask your seemingly foolish questions too. And if you heard the phrase “there’s no such thing as a “stupid question,” only an unasked one“? Oh, there are. Plenty. Still - ask bravely. 
- Take hints from past projects. Discuss with your seniors how previous systems were designed and where the problems lay. That includes what bugs appeared during their development, what was important, what wasn’t, and what the priorities were. Absorbing the condensed experience of your peers will make you ingenious in the new projects you take on. Learning from others is a life skill that is undoubtedly beyond precious for upcoming QAs.
- Take advice from seniors, observe their working methodology, how much time they spend on their work, and how they tackle their problems. You might receive advice that they applied and it didn’t work for them, but it works for you. 
- Remember to laugh during the process. You cannot be serious all the time. Mistakes occur while writing the documentation while testing, and communicating. Accept them as part of the learning process, and may laughter be the spoon of sugar that you need during learning.

## Conclusion

You have officially stepped into the shoes of the QA and know the answers to the frequently asked questions. Keep in mind - the series “In the shoes of a QA” is just beginning and will continue with the hottest topics like: 

- REST API
- GraphQL API
- Manual Testing
- Writing Test Scenarios
- Automation
- Useful tools

## [See you next time](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/how-to-test-REST-ful-APIs-with-postman) and until then, remember to

![3376755](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/5lYbHBRabhP5alBTojO4C0/ce7de2dd6dba9621ea7a0ba46b70d6c8/Screenshot_2022-11-01_at_14.04.27.png)


Answering the same questions I had in your place and providing some valuable tips on beginning the QA journey. 

Into the shoes of a QA: The FAQ

From fonts to access to stunning images & royalty-free stock, Lexis Solutions has prepared a list of free resources for all UI designers. 

## PHOTOS

### [Pexels](https://www.pexels.com/)

![Pexels](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/6M6l42lfE20dYPrr3Alsyq/e29bab3ddf21aea90f244391e946c5e0/Pexels.png)

Free stock photos & videos you can use everywhere. Browse millions of high-quality royalty free stock images & copyright free pictures.

*Alternatives:*

- [Pixabay](https://pixabay.com/) is a vibrant community of creatives, sharing copyright free images, videos and music.
- [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/); Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.
- [Burst ](https://burst.shopify.com/)is a free stock photo platform. The image library includes thousands of high-resolution, royalty-free images that their global community of photographers shot.

## VIDEO
### [Coverr](https://coverr.co/)

![Coverr](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/D12IIyCieJYPyldOeHtfW/7fd183fb3ce009e7c3b461d8007ad841/Coverr.png)

Coverr is a resource for beautiful, free, and exclusive stock videos for commercial and non-commercial use, requiring no attribution. Coverr should be your go-to destination when searching for a video for your next project.

*Alternatives:*

- [Videvo](https://www.videvo.net/); 500,000+ stock footage clips, motion graphics, Premiere Pro templates, After Effects templates, royalty-free music, and sound effects, all at your fingertips.
- [Videezy](https://www.videezy.com/) is the place to share your Free HD Stock Videos, b-roll, backgrounds, and other fantastic free video footage. Here you can explore and discuss the footage of other videographers worldwide or find that perfect little cutaway for your next big project.
- [Life of Vids](https://www.lifeofvids.com/) is a platform offers free videos for personal & commercial uses; new videos are added weekly! 

## Fonts
### [1001freefonts](https://www.1001freefonts.com/)

![1001 free fonts](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/1kFfTGrplkeVLfv15FFiVZ/7e5d8a521cc41e4b43231f4f4c8f5ad2/101freefonts.png)

Download free fonts for Windows and Mac. Browse categories such as calligraphy, handwriting, script, serif, and more. New fonts are added daily.

*Alternatives:*

- [Google Fonts](https://fonts.google.com/) is a library of 1455 open-source font families and APIs for convenient use via CSS and Android. The library also has delightful and beautifully crafted icons for everyday actions and items. Download them for your digital products for Android, iOS, and the web.
- [Dafont](https://www.dafont.com/); Archive of freely downloadable fonts. Browse by alphabetical listing, style, author, or by popularity.
- [Front Space](https://www.fontspace.com/popular/fonts); Free downloads of legally licensed fonts that are perfect for your design projects. The best place in the universe to search for unique fonts.

## Icons
### [Fontawesome](https://fontawesome.com/)

![Fontawesome](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/AQvjvPP56vG0F6ijD4weK/d9c8be25f042c1a7a290d6c82dcc9674/fontawesome.png)

Font Awesome is the Internet's icon library and toolkit, used by millions of designers, developers, and content creators.

*Alternatives:*

- [Iconfinder](https://www.iconfinder.com/) is the world's largest marketplace for icons, illustrations, and 3D illustrations in SVG, AI, and PNG formats. It has more than 239649 free vector icons.
- [Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/) features the most diverse collection of icons and stock photos ever. Download SVG and PNG. Browse over 5 million art-quality icons and photos.
- [Flaticon ](https://www.flaticon.com/)is a database of free vector icons. A tool that converts icons into web fonts. Access 8.3M+ vector icons and stickers. Resources made by and for designers. PNG, SVG, EPS, PSD, and CSS

## Mockup generator
### [Visme](https://www.visme.co/mockup-generator/)

![Visme](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/48ZyGWtYDmacFLlOTVmTME/1eb4099e9c1403798637c1453c5ce4c8/Screenshot_2022-10-27_at_14.42.23.png)

Visme is an online tool for creating, editing, sharing, and storing visual materials. You can use it as a presentation app to make slide decks, but you can also create templates for infographics, charts, logos, storyboards, graphics for social media posts and the web, letterheads, and other items. 

*Alternatives:*

- [MockupBro](https://mockupbro.com/); You can create product mockups with MockupBro! Just choose a mockup, upload your design and download your image without a watermark!
- [PixieLied](https://pixelied.com/mockups) is an easy-to-use design solution that allows users to create stunning ready-made designs from 25+ formats and access millions of stock photos, icons, and illustrations.

## Design inspiration 
### [UI Design Daily](https://www.uidesigndaily.com/)

![UI design daily](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/6f0CIvfaUTPubhDlt9Xyff/b0cbcdaf48282f5f10341380f90d9799/Screenshot_2022-10-27_at_14.43.22.png)

- [Dribbble](https://dribbble.com/tags/free_design_system) is a self-promotion and social networking platform for digital designers and creatives. It serves as a design portfolio platform, jobs, and recruiting site and is one of the largest platforms for designers to share their work online. 
- [Voog Design System ](https://voog.design/)has everything from multiple examples of the style, colors, typography, layout, and grid. Also, there are many examples of components like forms, buttons, tables, modals, popovers, editors, placeholders, navigation, eCommerce, dashboard, and container.

*Read next: '[Powerful and Free Tools for Content Creation](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/powerful-and-free-tools-for-content-creation)'*

A list of free resources for all UI designers.

Free Resources For Resourceful UI Designers

## Introduction

We all realize the importance of creating the minimal bundle size possible and performing numerous optimizations to mitigate the effects of the dependency mesh. I believe we can tackle the issue effectively by choosing the right libraries, and I would argue that Chartist is one of the best choices for charts.

## Bundle size

Why is bundle size important? The quick answer is speed and load time. More libraries mean more code, more code is more MBs, and more MBs mean a longer download and code-processing time. That said, pick the correct libraries, reduce the bundle size and make your user happy!

## Considerations when picking a library

The libraries you pick should be widely used, frequently updated, and documented. It is always reassuring to see a few dozen contributors mentioned and if the library has a dedicated website, it is solid. Do not forget to check the number of dependencies, as this is an easy way to bloat the bundle size and people often overlook it. Attempt to pick libraries with the fewest dependencies possible. For example, Chartist has no dependencies!

## Why Chartist

Chartist covers the basics, is customizable, and has the FAQs already answered by the community. It is also ~10kB when minified and zipped and has 0 dependencies.

I like it because it is easy to use and has responsiveness options. Take a look at a few examples:

- [Responsive bar](https://codesandbox.io/s/github/chartist-js/chartist/main/sandboxes/bar/extreme-responsive?file=/index.ts:359-372)
- [Horizontal bar](https://codesandbox.io/s/github/chartist-js/chartist/main/sandboxes/bar/horizontal)
- [Line chart with 3 lines](https://codesandbox.io/s/github/chartist-js/chartist/main/sandboxes/line/simple?file=/index.ts:0-34)
- [Line chart with area](https://codesandbox.io/s/github/chartist-js/chartist/main/sandboxes/line/area?file=/index.ts:0-34)
- [Bi-polar area line chart](https://codesandbox.io/s/github/chartist-js/chartist/main/sandboxes/line/bipolar-area?file=/index.ts:0-72)

## My experience
### Discovering Chartist

The project I currently work on is SEO focused. We have emphasized speed and HTML semantics to reach the top of Google search results. I couldn’t afford to pick any charting library as most are needlessly bloated and could prove detrimental to our SEO score. Proper research was due... 

Google and Stack Overflow are my go-to sources of information. I reviewed the top results, rephrased my search term several times, and eventually landed on the Chartist website. The statement “ONLY 10KB (GZIP) WITH NO DEPENDENCIES!” hooked me. As I read further into the documentation, the library seemed to fit my needs perfectly.

![Chartist Hero](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/4nxktIApE6x6jM8AzGNry3/8e7fdb4e147372dbf2d94b4f63e517f5/chartist-hero.png)

### My task

My job was to create a dynamic line chart representing trends over the last 5 years. The first chart is the goal and the second chart is the result I got using Chartist.

![Chart Goal](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/1mXCL7MoB1JmYbfLPrVrHZ/a6cb6b3255107a6061992bc92321e732/chart-goal.png)
![Chart Result](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/75HegIRYYFCTkGZNSsLPuq/ea21c1e0c3b22c3195348b19f1844e02/chart-result.png)

Research, implementation, and troubleshooting all took me around 3 hours - much less than what I expected given the performance restrictions put on the application. 

## Customization

### Options

This is the code I started with

![code1](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/7MMgV6jn2anonhAI8kbaTQ/a8dd5339a9154d0f9a10345d63779a01/Screenshot_2022-10-21_at_15.17.02.png)

*And this is what it got me*
![chart3](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/26s4z1xycoJhSkQXEewUU2/ce9632a8495358c2ed5bb1c338312aa6/image__2_.png)

The elephant in the room was the coloring. Everything else was tolerable the way it came. It turned out, however, that I fixed several visuals just because it was easy to do so. 

Let us start by eliminating the elements we don’t need - the points and all but the zero grid line. Extend the options like this

![code2](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/5rT6rIrdJPHmCVaZMj05SQ/ba45d3a1fd9447712d2a1fcb5bb3be89/Screenshot_2022-10-21_at_15.19.24.png)

`showPoint: false` will hide the points
`axisX: { showGrid: false }` hides the vertical grid

Inside of `axisY`
`referenceValue: 0` will guarantee we have the 0 horizontal grid line and 
`labelInterpolationFnc: value => value === 0 ? value : null }` will hide all horizontal grids of values different than 0

*The result we got is this*

![chart4](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/01en7B55DmYH3Fe6c5IbvQ/ec95cbf4b77ac35b42ed1b77f984a8d5/image__3_.png)

### CSS

Chartist comes with default colors for the lines and the area beneath them. The easiest way to change them is done via plain old CSS.

Each of the data series (lines) receives a class name in the format of `ct-series-{letter}` where letter is a,b,c…

![code](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/1LjnHOz51UNjvItw7LLVzg/1f5bb896e87536957e74ff870d00cbac/Screenshot_2022-10-21_at_16.41.40.png)

As you can see the chart is in fact an SVG so the color manipulations happen via the stroke and fill properties.

![code3](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/7qdXyCRZDhdMOeTgz7kaBF/cb6586036dc1a942d8fbd6a790ab0f62/Screenshot_2022-10-21_at_15.21.33.png)

`#red-gradient` and `#green-gradient` represent the custom gradients I needed for the area beneath the red and green lines. You must define them as follows somewhere in the HTML.

![code4](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/PzTdNnXF4jbYCu0PgZfLT/1bc0d6a7a12f4d3b6f7c607fee0ab90d/Screenshot_2022-10-21_at_15.22.45.png)

The last changes produce this and it’s almost pixel-perfect!

![Chart Intermediate](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/6fi5eoINFsLKwyfHIGjC6N/bc7fbcfef72a1366596ba5676375ef69/chart-intermediate.png)

### Conclusion

By now, we have nearly nailed the design. You can reach the result with further customization, but that’s not the point. What is important is that you got the basics of a library that does a splendid job and is 10+ times lighter than what you’d expect. Just imagine the impact a proper selection of libraries can have on your next project’s bundle size…


What to look for and consider when searching for a chart library.

А Real-World Example for Picking Better Dependencies

Lexis Solutions is a dedicated [development](https://clutch.co/directory/mobile-application-developers/packages) company that supports SMEs in their projects. We provide digital solutions to aid organizations in crafting revolutionary digital products. We’re a team of experts with a proven track record of building successful solutions. Our core purpose is to enable your business idea to come to life.

Today, we’re happy to announce that we’re one of the leading vendors on The Manifest, a [company list blog](https://themanifest.com/bg/web-development/companies#most-reviewed). According to their latest research, we’re one of the most reviewed web developers in Bulgaria this year!

“*Lexis Solutions has been growing steadily over the last few quarters and are now ready for new challenges. We thank our clients for the generous feedback and Clutch for giving us a platform for reaching new opportunities. Being named top 15 in Sofia is truly humbling and only reinforces our belief in working diligently. Lexis Solutions will continue to deliver the finest quality software and place emphasis on effective communication while doing it.*”

*__Deyan Denchev - CEO, Lexis Solutions__*

Since our inception in 2017, we have been working hard to lead our clients to digital product excellence. We appreciate the support you’ve given us over the years, and this award is a testament to the mutually beneficial relationships we’ve established.

Find out more information about our projects on The Manifest, a business platform. Organizations worldwide use The Manifest to support their research before making informed partnership decisions with some of the best service providers out there.

If you want to learn more about our partnership process, please get in touch, and let us know what you need help with.


The Manifest's team article about another of Lexis Solutions' achievements! 

The Manifest: Lexis Solutions is among the Most Reviewed Web Developers in Bulgaria

## Introduction

Here at Lexis Solutions, we deal with complex projects every day that involve scheduling and micro-service coordination. Until now, we had tried different solutions for job processing, but somehow we always felt that something could be done better. That’s why we decided to develop our technology and make it open source so everyone could benefit. This article explores how and why we created a new open source job queue dashboard - [Agenda Admin](https://github.com/lexis-solutions/agenda-admin).

## What is a job queue?

A job queue contains a list of jobs waiting to be processed by a subsystem. It's the first place that a submitted job goes before becoming active. The job is held in the queue until some factors are met.

There are many job queue implementations for Node.js, including Bull, Bee, and [Agenda](https://github.com/agenda/agenda). 

*Let's take a closer look at Agenda.*

Agenda is an open-source, lightweight job scheduling library for Node.js, with many features like job priority, concurrency, and repeating, which uses MongoDB for the persistence layer. 

One of the main issues is that we have to write code whenever we want to create a new job or view the old one. While it's not hard, it is slightly inconvenient. That's why we need a dashboard with all the basic functionalities, like a list of all jobs or creating/deleting jobs.

## Existing Solutions

So far, there has been only one solution to this problem - Agendash, an open-source dashboard for Agenda. It allows us to schedule new jobs, requeue or delete old ones and search old ones, among other things; however, a few improvements could be made. 

While the UI/UX could also be improved, the main issue was that many pull requests took too long to merge. Because of that, some basic functionalities, like deleting or requeueing jobs, were buggy or not working.

__Note:__ *As of writing this article, the most crucial bugs are already fixed on Agendash. Kudos to their team 💯*

![Agenda Study1](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/4PIzJMeuVmiOaXOoTEjxKx/6b510eb73073c71854bf1ab57d755c5f/1.jpg)

## Our Solution

Our goal with Agenda Admin was to create a dashboard with a clean and easy-to-use UI and all the essential functionalities we needed to make working with jobs easier:

- jobs status, refresh interval is 15 seconds by default
- search jobs by name, including autocomplete
- filter jobs by metadata and status
- view job details
- delete and requeue jobs
- schedule a new job.

The user can see a list of all jobs, with the basic information for each one - their status, name, the last time the job was run, and when it will be executed again. Filtering the list was also a critical feature, with options to filter the jobs by their name, status, or some of their other properties. 

![Agenda Study2](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/5AqzYNooJGbuSKsp2yrtWI/8e5f28e12c4a9f1ac7f9c522fbd57daa/2.jpg)
![Agenda Study3](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/5o77wmUAzhVU8BiX2JG2bQ/da1ff346433fccd71cc1fb7bac1c7b79/3.png)

## The Architecture

For this project, we went for the mono-repo architecture, with the two main subprojects being the api, written in Node.js, and the client application, written in React. This approach has many advantages, including a shared build process for both the api and the client and enforcing code style standards across the project.

We used yarn workspaces and the mono-repo architecture to improve our dependency management. This allowed us to avoid unnecessary bloat by managing the dependencies across the whole project instead of having separate node_modules folders for each package.

![Agenda Study4](//images.ctfassets.net/5gydaotbo8jm/PxP8ki2WfQRwEkN4cW3qa/4ba798dae7766ba285abf65fe35d4fc7/3.gif)

## The Development Process

We used Linear to track our tasks and bugs to make the development process more efficient. Linear's integration with GitHub was also convenient, allowing us to link every pull request to the corresponding ticket. 

Of course, it was also essential for the whole team to be up to date on the progress, so we would meet regularly to discuss what had been done and how we should proceed with the upcoming tasks.

While not the most fun part of the project, we had to ensure that every app function was covered with tests to avoid any bugs. And to make catching bugs even easier, we automated the testing process with GitHub Actions. By automatically running the tests on every pull request, we could be confident that every regression would be caught before it reached production. 

However, unit tests can only take us so far. While we could catch bugs in the logic, we still had to ensure there were no issues with the user experience. This is where we had help from the rest of the people at Lexis Solutions, as they would constantly test the app and report any inconveniences, so we could fix them and provide the users with the best experience possible.

We were also able to automate the application's deployment, including tracing the version number and publishing the package. This was achieved by using semantic-release and, again, GitHub Actions. Also, by following strict commit message conventions and prefacing every commit message with a specific flag depending on the changes, semantic release could quickly figure out the following version number. By creating an automated workflow for publishing the package, every time a branch was merged into the main, a new package would be published on NPM.

## Conclusion

Now Agenda Admin is available as an [NPM package](https://www.npmjs.com/package/agenda-admin), and as an open-source project on GitHub, at [lexis-solutions/agenda-admin](https://github.com/lexis-solutions/agenda-admin). Everybody is welcome to suggest new features or contribute; don’t forget to star it.


The process behind how Lexis Solutions created a new open source job queue dashboard - Agenda Admin.

Contributing to Open Source: How We Crafted Agenda Admin

A few weeks ago, [Lexis's CEO gave terrific tips and tricks to master your interview for any developer position](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/tips-to-master-interviews-for-any-developer-position). In addition, we will now focus on the most crucial part before the interview: the CV. 

## Are you preparing your CV for the very first time?

Firstly, make the center of attention any internship, courses, etc., closest to your selected job offers. But if you don't have any, never be ashamed of other experiences.

Let's say you worked in the customer service field for a few years before you decided to switch your career path, or you are still a student, so you performed a job to sustain and meet your ends - put that in your resume as well. It shows you gained experience and specific skills, are aware of the work ethic and weren't switching from place to place. 

But any other courses show dedication too. Even if they don't relate 100% to the job you are applying for, the person checking your CV will consider that you have put the effort to gather [knowledge](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/why-does-knowledge-matter) or have a specific interest and decided to develop it. Don't forget to mention participation in university competitions, hackathons, academies, etc. 

## English C1 vs. C++?

Good [knowledge](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/why-does-knowledge-matter) of English is a must when working in IT. If you don't know it even on a basic level, the chance of you getting hired is closer to zero. We strongly suggest you put in the effort and attain a decent mastery of the English language to further your career. 

And it's not only English! Most Bulgarian developers work on international projects, so any language apart from English will be welcomed.

## Powering your skills

We live in a time when soft skills are the game changer. So never second guess yourself and list all of the ones you possess. 

You need more practice if you are not confident enough in your communication skills. Don't worry about the interview process; instead, apply for companies that are not your first choice. This way, you will gain experience without sacrificing your go-to employers. Your friends could be of help too. They might imitate an interviewer and [ask you some questions Deyan shared with us](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/tips-to-master-interviews-for-any-developer-position). 

But, of course, don't miss all the technical skills - especially if you have any of the listed ones on the job offer.

## Does a higher degree get your foot in the door, or is the experience the one that sells you? 

Education matters, but your skills and experience will benefit you more in the real working world. A higher degree will put you ahead of other candidates only when your practical skills are comparable. 

## Social media?

Your Linkedin and Github profiles are the only acceptable links you might add to your resume, so make sure they represent you well. If any concern appears that you don't have a lot to add to your profiles - the Internet once again might be your saver. Look for a free course and enroll right away. After finishing it, highlight it on the platforms. Check if there are any IT-related events or lectures in your city, and go networking - you never know where your luck might surprise you. 

## Picture or no picture? That's the question.

Should you add a photo to your resume? It depends. As we mentioned in a previous blog post, if you are applying for a job in the US, UK, or Canada, don't submit one. [Read here why.](https://www.lexis.solutions/blog/tips-to-master-interviews-for-any-developer-position)

If it is not explicitly mentioned that you should put one, it is a personal choice whether to add it or not. Some recruiters might argue and advise you not to do it - especially if not required. 

A passport photo is always the best option. Don't forget - the picture should be appropriate, never one from your prom, birthday party, or wearing something provocative. Usually, how you look is the least important to the hiring team, but adding an unsuitable image will probably play a bad joke on you.

## Note that your CV should be easy to read.

The hiring team will probably not spend much time scanning it, especially if there are many applicants. So here are some tips:

- use a black, easy-to-read font in one size  
- use short sentences and break up blocks of text
- use bullet points to list information
- keep the tone formal
- avoid abbreviations, slang, or jargon
- аvoid additional photos or images
- have strong headings
- keep your CV to a maximum of two pages.

__*Pro Tip 1:*__

Sometimes you might need to adapt your CV to the specific job offer. So always have the ready-to-go version (best if it is PDF saved), but always try to make it work for you so later you can work for them! Make your research on the company - see what they value and the leading technologies they use - and highlight that on your resume, especially what they want and what you have aligned.

__*Pro Tip 2:*__

Make sure your email sounds professional. It should only consist of your name and surname. Nothing else. No numbers (especially the year you were born) or any nicknames. And check a few times if you haven't missed a digit when adding your phone contact.  

__*Pro Tip 3:*__

Leonardo Da Vinci once said, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." So take that in mind when creating your CV. Don't choose a colorful template or one that would be suitable for jobs on the more creative side, and try avoiding the European variant. 

Never pay for "special" options; there are many free platforms where you can create a simple but beautiful resume. For example, you can always use [Enhancv ](https://enhancv.com/)- a Bulgarian CV builder. 

## Motivated people always find a way

A motivational letter might be the joker for you who just started applying for jobs. Of course, you could read a few to get the right idea. But, please, never copy from a ready-written-one; the recruiters will notice immediately. 

The letter should be coming from your heart but always professional looking. Find common ground between you and the business, and focus on that. Try avoiding cliches; give examples from your studies and experiences of why you are suitable for the given job. Or explain how you picture yourself growing in the company and how determined you are to do so. 

## Know when enough is enough

Whether making your CV for the first time or updating it, you should never forget that the point isn't to drown the recruiter in your life history. It is all about balance. Before submitting - ask yourself, did I pitch myself well enough? 


A focus on how to create a CV quickly, simply, and efficiently. 

From the front lines