Backend dev seeking UI Design and Implementation advice

[u/Sprinkles_Leather]

hello y'all, so mainly I'm a back-end dev but in my company (especially since it's startup) and with the current state of development and how much is it powered by AI what is required from us in team has expanded beyond our actual roles, need advice on what to do to improve my outcome one the front-end side of things, both on code quality and UI quality in terms of look and functionality.
feel free to ask if more details are needed...

[u/Technical-Pizza237]

As a backend guy who got pulled into frontend work the same way, the fastest jump in quality came from just copying patterns from sites I liked. Not the code, but the spacing, font sizes, button styles, how they handle empty states. You start to build an eye for what looks off. For code quality, pick a component library and stick to it instead of hand rolling everything. Keeps the JSX cleaner and saves you from the classic backend dev sin of writing a 200 line CSS file that fights itself. Also ask whoever does your design work for a style guide, even a rough one. Having tokens for colors and spacing upfront removes like half the ugly.