# Grab's Front End Study Guide

[Grab](https://yomu.fyi/company/grab) · Yangshun Tay · Jun 3, 2017

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Rapid hiring and engineering expansion created a steep learning curve for newcomers and backend engineers unfamiliar with modern web architecture. Grab created an opinionated front-end study guide to help engineers navigate JavaScript tooling, state management, and modern application practices. The guide frames client-side single-page applications as a scalable alternative to traditional server-side rendering, enabling clear client-server separation for multiple client apps hitting the same backend API. It establishes core competencies in ECMAScript 2015 via Babel and explains how component-driven interfaces in React improve maintainability and performance through virtual DOM reconciliation. Ultimately, the resource aims to ramp up developer onboarding and accelerate shipping speeds across web platforms.

## Context

New hires and backend engineers unfamiliar with the evolving JavaScript ecosystem felt overwhelmed by modern front-end tooling, slowing their onboarding and feature delivery at Grab.

## Approach / What changed

Grab published an opinionated front-end study guide covering single-page app architecture, ES2015, Babel transpilation, and declarative component development with React.

## Takeaways

- Single-page application architectures improve team scalability by enforcing independent client-server contracts and letting multiple platforms consume the same backend API.
- Using Babel with the Stage-0 preset allows engineering teams to write ES2015 features while maintaining compatibility with browsers that only run ES5.
- React achieves performance optimizations by updating an in-memory virtual DOM and patching only the calculated minimal difference to the real browser DOM.

**Tags:** [Architecture](https://yomu.fyi/topic/architecture), [Developer Experience](https://yomu.fyi/topic/developer-experience), [Onboarding](https://yomu.fyi/topic/onboarding)

[Read original post](https://engineering.grab.com/grabs-front-end-study-guide)