Tal KorenAbout
I'm Tal Koren, a frontend-focused software developer from Tel Aviv. I've been doing this for more than 14 years, mostly around frontend architecture, React, TypeScript, CSS, design systems, and developer tooling.
I've also done enough backend work over the years to comfortably call myself full stack, but frontend is still where I know the most, notice the most problems, and have the strongest opinions.
# Work
Most of my career has been in product companies, often in positions where I was in charge of the entirety of the frontend. At Knostic, I joined as the first engineer and built a lot of the frontend infrastructure from the ground up. That included the architecture, shared components, conventions, and the design system. The product went through two fairly substantial pivots, so a lot of the work wasn't just building things. It was figuring out which parts of the frontend should survive when most of the product around them changed.
Later I moved further into backend work as well, mostly with Node.js, TypeScript, Fastify, PostgreSQL, and Drizzle. Before Knostic I worked at Fiverr and Solvo. At Solvo I was leading the frontend team, built the shared frontend foundations, and mentored other developers.
The recurring theme has been frontend ownership: architecture, APIs between components, design systems, tooling, standards, and all the small choices that become expensive once enough people depend on them.
# What I write about
This blog is mostly about frontend engineering, but probably not the kind that starts with "here are five useful React hooks." I'm interested in the parts that remain difficult after you already know the framework: architecture, CSS, browser behavior, component design, state, design systems, maintainability, developer experience, and the places where engineering decisions start turning into product decisions. Increasingly that includes AI, and what it changes about which of those skills still matter.
# TechPicks
I've been running TechPicks since 2018, curating software-development articles, tools, and opinions for a community of around 1,500 developers. I read far more technical content than is reasonable, discard most of it, and share what I think is genuinely worth someone's time. Eight years of doing that has also given me a useful view of engineering hype cycles - supposedly permanent ideas disappear, then return a few years later under different names.
# A few things I tend to believe
- A design system is more interesting as a set of constraints than as a directory full of components.
- Frontend is product engineering. The boundary between engineering, design, and product is much blurrier than most org charts suggest.
- Ship fast, but don't make tomorrow pay for every decision you make today.
- Most days somehow include at least one hidden Seinfeld reference.
I reserve the right to contradict any of the above in a future blog post. Except the Seinfeld one. That's just a universal truth.
# Outside work
Rock and metal, games, horror and mindfuck films, Seinfeld, and bad puns. I spend an unreasonable amount of time in a terminal.
# Experience
Your company here
NextTBD
Currently accepting plot twists.
Knostic
Dec 2023 – Jul 2026Full Stack Engineer (Founding team)
As the first engineer, built the React and TypeScript frontend architecture, reusable component system, design system, and development standards, preserved them through two product pivots, then added Node.js, Fastify, PostgreSQL, and Drizzle ownership.
Fiverr
Apr 2023 – Nov 2023Senior Front End Engineer
Built and maintained React-based frontend applications in an SSR environment during Fiverr Business's transition into Fiverr Pro.
Solvo
Jul 2021 – Mar 2023Front End Tech Lead
As its first full-time frontend developer, built the frontend platform and component library, established coding and review standards, and recruited and mentored two junior developers into a functioning frontend team.
Rookout (acquired by Dynatrace)
Sep 2018 – Jul 2021Front End Developer
Built React, GraphQL, and Redux interfaces for observability data, improved large data-table performance and code maintainability, established frontend standards, and mentored junior developers.
Interjet
Aug 2013 – Aug 2018Full Stack Web Developer
Delivered hundreds of client web projects over five years and introduced reusable development patterns and engineering practices into a high-volume project environment.
Adzz
Feb 2012 – May 2013Webmaster
Built and maintained Drupal websites in production, including feature development, bug fixes, releases, and ongoing client-site maintenance.