I learned design + frontend engineering together. My side project turned into my full-time startup: https://www.cacher.io
The best advice I can give in terms of managing UX:
0. Get Sketch (https://www.sketchapp.com) and use one of its UI kits (https://www.sketchappsources.com) to lay out your designs. While you should pay attention to visual details, you won't need to lay out every state since you won't be showing these to anyone else.
1. Build your project with one of the established frameworks (Material is pretty good). This will give you a sense of visual hierarchy and force you to think about why elements are placed where they are.
2. Introduce your own modifications and controls as needed. Even with a framework, you'll eventually come across a use-case that isn't readily handled.
3. Keep your modified framework in its own folder/repo. Continually update it as visual standards/technologies change. Doing this will cut down on the amount of re-work necessary when you're starting new projects.
Do you have any suggestions on how to learn Sketch? I've downloaded it but don't really know how to get started. YouTube videos? Or, are there people writing about using it, starting from the developer mindset?
The best advice I can give in terms of managing UX:
0. Get Sketch (https://www.sketchapp.com) and use one of its UI kits (https://www.sketchappsources.com) to lay out your designs. While you should pay attention to visual details, you won't need to lay out every state since you won't be showing these to anyone else.
1. Build your project with one of the established frameworks (Material is pretty good). This will give you a sense of visual hierarchy and force you to think about why elements are placed where they are.
2. Introduce your own modifications and controls as needed. Even with a framework, you'll eventually come across a use-case that isn't readily handled.
3. Keep your modified framework in its own folder/repo. Continually update it as visual standards/technologies change. Doing this will cut down on the amount of re-work necessary when you're starting new projects.