Five surprising gems we discovered at our first Frontend Conference

Frontend engineers gathered recently for a special event at Rightmove. It’s our first Frontend Conference: The FED (Front-End Developer) Day, packed with learning, collaboration, and fun. Here’s a closer look at what the day was about, why we organised it, how it all came together, and the outcomes we achieved.

What

The FED Day was a full-day in-person event designed for Rightmove’s front-end engineering community. The agenda included:

• Talks by internal and external speakers on key frontend topics
• Interactive activities like Human Bingo and a Logo Design Challenge
• A Developer Experience (DX) workshop
• Plenty of time for networking, knowledge sharing, and fun

It was a chance for engineers across different teams and locations to connect, learn, and collaborate.

Why

Frontend development at Rightmove is constantly evolving, and so is our community. We organised the FED Day to:

• Bring engineers together and build stronger connections
• Share knowledge about the latest frontend tools and practices
• Align on frontend priorities, processes, and technologies
• Collect feedback to identify areas for improving Developer Experience
• Break communication barriers and foster collaboration across teams

By focusing on these goals, we hoped to strengthen our community and set the stage for even better collaboration moving forward.

How

The FED Day came to life thanks to the efforts of our amazing organisers: Catia and Francesco, Engineering Managers (EMs), Ana, Tay, Ethan, and Sanju, Frontend Engineers (FEDs). The day featured:

• Talks: Our Frontend Architect Aleks and our EM Catia discussed the past, present, and future of frontend at Rightmove. Angel, FED in the Brokers team, shared his experience with TailwindCSS, and our guest speaker, Stephen Cooper, dived into React Refs.
• Activities: Human Bingo got everyone moving and talking, while the Logo Design Challenge sparked team collaboration and creativity.
• DX Workshop: We collaborated to identify areas for improvement in our developer experience.
• Refreshments: Tasty snacks and drinks kept the energy high throughout the day.

It was a great opportunity to see how much the wider FED team at Rightmove has grown since I joined. It also helped us come together and realise that engineers across teams face similar issues and challenges. I’ve since had much more communication with other engineers, leading to solutions for our common problems!
– Ben Akehurst, Senior Frontend Engineer

Outcomes

Here’s what we achieved:

• We learned more about frontend development and got to know each other better.
• Ideas and experiences were shared, and everyone had the space to express their opinions.
• We gained a clear vision for the future of frontend work at Rightmove.
• Valuable feedback was collected to guide improvements in Developer Experience.
• Collaboration, engagement, and communication between teams were strengthened.

The FED Day was an exciting and memorable day. A big thank you to everyone who participated, organised, and supported this event! Until next year!