for those with one goal:
to be the best engineer
and build the best apps
The #1 newsletter on Substack for Staff+ engineers, tech leads, design-system maintainers, and creator-builders who want more edge per hour spent. Written by Staff Frontend Engineer Rob Hameetman who has previously lead technical strategy on teams at Vivid Seats, Capital One, Guild, Peapod Digital Labs, and at startups.
What To Expect
Ship this week. Short, surgical guides and workflows that clear real blockers. Land your PRs faster than you ever thought possible.
Scale with confidence. Patterns for frontend systems, tooling, and reliable architecture that hold under peak load. Boundaries are explicit so you know when they break.
See the costs up front. Every trade-off is named and the complexity is placed. You get the paydown path, not hand-waving.
Trust the receipts. Code, constraints, and evidence you can drop into production. No vibes, only tested moves.
Join 1,000,000+ subscribers on the #1 newsletter for practical systems thinking in frontend. Read free, upgrade when it saves a sprint.
đ Free subscribers get:
Shared expertise and time-saving resources, free forever.
Core patterns and quickstarts you can ship today.
The why behind the how, with trade-offs and constraints named.
I donât hold back essentials to sell upgrades.
đ Paid subscribers get:
Everything free subscribers get
Early access to new posts and resources, tools, and templates to ship faster.
Valuable discussion with other UI engineering experts on any article.
The full archive, every deep dive, resource, and experiment since day one.
Past Articles
The AI Playbook for Design Systems: What Works, What Fails, and Why
The Newest Version of Claude Created a UI Pattern Iâve Never Seen Before
đ Enterprise Theming Workbook v0.4, with Lucidchart maps
đ Compound vs Headless vs Standard: Picking the Right Abstraction Under Load
đ Design Tokens to Design Rules: From Signals to Strata
đ State Machines at the Edge of Product Reality
đ PR Checklist for UI Components, Staff-level Edition
To get the full value of this newsletter, subscribe to the paid edition. Many subscribers expense this newsletter to their teamâs learning and development budget. Here is an email you can send to your manager.
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Expensing This Newsletter
Most readers expense this under learning, professional development, or training. Use this note for your manager or procurement:
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Hey [Manager or Procurement], I need to submit an expense for training on building scalable and reliable frontend systems that applies directly to our team processes and KPIs. Itâs a subscription but it comes with additional resources that Iâm confident will improve our delivery velocity. If just one approach from this resource makes our team faster then it pays for itself but I expect ROI will clear 100x. Thanks!
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Hi [Manager or Procurement],
This subscription supports staff training on scalable and reliable frontend systems, as well as additional resources to improve delivery velocity. Lessons apply directly to our teamâs processes and KPIs. If one approach from this resource makes our team faster, it pays for itself. That said, Iâm confident the ROI will clear 100x.
Thanks!
[Your Name]
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Discounts: Use this group discount for 5+ seats. For 10+ seats, contact me for deeper discounts.
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Grow the team: The group admin can add more seats at any point, then invite new members. Follow the steps outlined here.
Discounts
Price parity. In lower-income regions, ask for PPP pricing.
Students and educators. Student discount for academic email addresses. Donât have an .edu email address? Email me at blog@robhameetman.com.
Between roles. If youâre job-seeking, say so and Iâll share a code.
Reply to any issue or use the contact form with which discount applies.
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Publishing Schedule & Holidays
You can control which issues you want to receive over email on this page.
Typical cadence is a few Resources per month, Deeps when theyâre ready, and Lab notes when standards or frameworks actually move.
Exceptions to this are on holidays during summer and winter break. In 2025, these are:
4/20â4/27: Spring break
7/14â8/14: Summer break
11/21â11/30: Thanksgiving break
12/20â1/6: Winter break
Your understanding and support here are greatly appreciated!
This schedule may change in case of unexpected events.
Last update: 17 Aug 2025.
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Requesting A Refund
If a paid subscription isnât useful, ask within 30 days and Iâll refund the current period no questions asked. Please email billing@robhameetman.com for a full refund.
I appreciate if you can share the reason you are unhappy with the contents or purchase, but doing so is not necessary for a refund. I aim for fair, not gotcha.
Usage & Sharing Guidelines
Share links freely, excerpt small passages with attribution, and discuss ideas internally. Donât repost full articles or toolkits outside your organization, and donât upload paid assets to public repos or wikis. If you want to circulate a paid piece broadly inside a company, get a team plan so everyone stays above board.
For more information, see the Copyright & Reuse Policy.
Ask A Question
Have a thorny component or a design-system dilemma? Reply to any issue or use the contact form with context, constraints, and a minimal repro. I answer as many as I can, and anonymize before sharing.
Guest Posts
Rare and curated. Practitioner-grade only, with receipts from production. If youâve shipped something real and can name the trade-offs, pitch the outline and who it helps.
Hereâs more info on how to express interest.
Sponsorships & Advertisements
Selective, relevant, and boring on purpose: no trackers, no pay-to-play, no fake âreviews.â I accept sponsors that help frontend teams ship better systems. Limited slots are available so ask for the media kit if you think you fit.
