Even as you read this, you are navigating a website or an application, seeking information, a product or service - all a mere click away. However, it takes an entire software development team working with design professionals to make this possible. Front End Developers are technical experts who work on t... Continue Reading
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Explore Career Even as you read this, you are navigating a website or an application, seeking information, a product or service - all a mere click away. However, it takes an entire software development team working with design professionals to make this possible. Front End Developers are technical experts who work on the client side as part of the development team. Equipped with proficiency in front end programming languages, frameworks, tools, and design principles, they bridge back end logic with design features to create the user-facing components of websites and apps, making them functional, easy to use and visually appealing.
What are the typical responsibilities of a Front End Developer?
A Front End Developer would typically need to:
Front End Developers typically work in office-based environments equipped with the latest technology. Your work requires collaborating with the development team, other departments and stakeholders. However, the specific work environment depends on the industry and business you work for and whether you are employed full time or freelance.
Inhouse Front End Developers may work in traditional office spaces alongside development team members, although they may also work remotely when possible.
Freelancers typically work remotely from home or co-working spaces and must remain flexible to accommodate the varying requirements of clients and projects.
Front End Developers spend much time seated at their desks in front of computers, writing code and testing websites and applications on different browsers and devices or meeting with development team members and other colleagues and stakeholders.
Companies may motivate and inspire web developers by providing creative or interactive workspaces to brainstorm and code. The environment is typically fast-paced and dynamic, requiring you to stay current with the latest technological advancements and programming languages. You may also work remotely from home or in shared office space, collaborating online with global teams of diverse IT professionals.
Travel is typically required only to attend conferences, training sessions and other networking and industry events.
While Front End Developers typically work standard business hours, up to 40 a week, specific schedules may depend on the project and employer. Overtime hours are usually necessary to troubleshoot and resolve errors to meet project deadlines or ensure that websites and applications resume functionality. You will likely spend considerable time at your computer.
Working part-time jobs in small startups with relatively simple web development work may be possible. Freelance work or short-term contracts allow flexible schedules.
Research suggests that flexible hours and generous telework policies appeal more than salary to the younger generation. There has been an incremental increase in employers willing to give promising employees a chance to adjust their schedules per the job demands.
Finding a new job might seem challenging. Front End Developers can boost their job search by asking their network for referrals, attending industry events, conferences, and meetups, checking company websites, contacting companies directly, using job search platforms to find job listings, going to job fairs, leveraging social media, joining online forums and communities, and inquiring at staffing agencies, preferably specialising in IT and web development.
You may freelance or work as an independent contractor for greater flexibility with schedules and location. Look up freelance platforms online to find short-term front end development projects.
Since the job market is dynamic, regularly check for new opportunities that match your skills and career goals.
Front End Developers are generally employed by:
Professional associations and organisations, such as the International Web Association (IWA), are crucial for Front End Developers interested in pursuing professional development or connecting with like-minded professionals in their industry or occupation.
Professional associations provide their members with various continuing education and networking opportunities, and mentorship services. Membership in one or more adds value to your resume while bolstering your credentials and qualifications.
Academic programs that a potential Front End Developer takes may require a period of supervised experience, such as an internship. Front End Developers will benefit from tasks outside of the classroom that line up perfectly with lessons inside it. One may hear countless stories from more experienced professionals and obtain valuable hands-on experience when they turn seemingly routine incidents into unique learning moments.
Having acquired coding and other technical skills, you must practise them in different ways to build experience, confidence, speed and efficiency. For instance, you can build mock websites and use open-source online tools to learn HTML, CSS and JavaScript syntax interactively, taking on coding challenges at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Try to acquire experience in Git version control systems and graphic designing applications as well.
Summer internships, part-time work at an entry-level position, and short-term paid or voluntary work with charitable organisations and NGOs offer a taste of the career, give valuable insight into how a company or institution operates, help build useful contacts and improve one’s prospects of getting a permanent job.
The experience may also help determine whether the public, private or voluntary sector is best suited to realise one’s ambitions. Your educational provider’s career service department can provide information about viable opportunities for work placements, internships and voluntary work in diverse sectors.
Some locations may offer apprenticeships as a way to earn while you learn, and some may also sponsor you for bootcamps.
Whether you build your own projects, contribute to open-source projects through GitHub, attend bootcamp, or opt for any other way to earn experience, record them all in your portfolio, which is necessary to showcase your skills to prospective employers.
Even while in high school, you can check with a teacher or counsellor about relevant work-based learning opportunities available in your school or community that can help you connect your school experiences with real-life work.
Join some groups, try some hobbies or volunteer with an organisation of interest, so you can have fun while learning about yourself and be directed toward a future career.
Read about the profession and interview or job shadow experts working in front end development to prove your commitment to course providers and prospective employers.
Some employers may prefer candidates with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering, computer science, software engineering, software development, programming, data science, web development, or a related field and relevant experience. Formal educational qualifications may also help you advance your career. You may also opt for an associate degree in web development or a relevant subject.
However, if you enter the field with a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a different and unrelated subject, you may acquire training in the requisite programming languages (CSS, HTML and JavaScript), frameworks and other front end development skills via online courses or at local community colleges. Certificate courses are typically helpful in transitioning from a non-programming career into web development and launching your career across various industries, particularly small business ventures. Some technology companies or businesses may even train you on the job.
Some positions may accept relevant work experience as a substitute for academic qualifications as long as you can prove your knowledge of and technical skills in programming languages and front end development through a portfolio or by passing tests and interviews, as required by prospective employers.
You may self-learn necessary skills through free or affordable and self-paced coding courses or books, YouTube tutorials or other online learning platforms. Some universities also offer online courses. Relatively short-term but intensive training courses, such as bootcamps, are also useful for learning front-end development skills and acquiring certification. Some bootcamps may offer financing options and scholarships.
Another option for aspiring Front-End Web Developers is to earn nanodegrees, new types of credentials available online to equip you with specialised technical skills to prepare you for the workplace or help you advance in your career. The programs, lasting 6 to 12 months, are flexible for students to pursue from any location at their pace and take as many as they wish. Learning takes place with the support of mentors and fellow students and using the methodology of projects, case studies, experiments and test cases.
Aspiring Front End Developers must understand UI/UX design principles, application program interfaces (APIs), search engine optimisation (SEO), and cloud computing platforms. You must also learn version control systems, such as Git, and the command line interface (CLI), which helps create the text interface, troubleshoot, carry out regular tasks and manage the app or website.
Aspiring Front End Developers would do well to take high school courses in mathematics, IT, computer science, programming, design, game design, and business.
Remember that completing a particular academic course does not guarantee entry into the profession. Be that as it may, professional qualifications and transferable skills may open up more than one door.
Do your homework and look into all available options for education and employment before enrolling in a specific programme. Reliable sources that help you make an educated decision include associations and employers in your field.
Certifications are of particular benefit to Front End Programmers aspiring to continue within programming and web development. They demonstrate your competence in a skill set and technical proficiency to create dynamic, reliable and secure websites and applications, typically through work experience, training, and passing an examination. Certification from objective and reputed organisations, such as W3C and CompTIA, can help you stand out in a competitive job market, enhance project opportunities, and carry a significant salary premium of up to 18 per cent. Successful certification programs protect public welfare by incorporating a Code of Ethics.
Relevant certification typically demonstrates your grasp of front end programming languages (such as CSS, HTML and JavaScript) and relevant libraries and frameworks (such as React, Angular and Vue).
Other useful credentials include IEEE’s Professional Software Developer Certification and relevant certifications offered by Oracle, such as Oracle Certified Professional: Java SE 11 Developer Certification. You may also opt for suitable Certified Web Professional credentials from the International Web Association (IWA). In addition, you have a range of 11 certifications offered by freeCodeCamp from which to choose, each of which requires about 300 hours to complete and mandates five projects besides other optional challenges.
While more relevant to back end or full stack developers, you may also opt for AWS Certified Developer - Associate (for developing applications on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) platform) and Microsoft Certified: Azure Developer Associate. You may also choose from the various Google Cloud professional certifications most relevant to you, such as Google Cloud Professional Cloud Developer (for developing applications on the Google Cloud Platform - GCP).
Front End Developers may also need to undergo an employment background check, including but not limited to a person’s work history, education, credit history, motor vehicle reports (MVRs), criminal record, medical history, use of social media, and drug screening.
Performance, experience, and the acquisition of professional qualifications drive career progression. Employees with consistently high levels of performance may be eligible for promotion every two to three years.
Front End Developers may follow varied career paths based on their skills, personal goals, interests, organisational objectives, and opportunities.
Equipped with the requisite knowledge, skills and some experience in JavaScript, CSS and HTML, you may begin your career by landing a job as a Junior Front End Developer or Junior Javascript/HTML/CSS Developer, working as a member of the development team and collaborating with senior developers on small projects.
Having built further experience and improved your front end coding skills and knowledge of the latest front end technologies and frameworks, you may move up to the role of Mid-Level Front End Developer, contributing to more complex projects and maybe taking on greater responsibility by leading smaller ones and ensuring they run smoothly. With a solid grasp of front end frameworks (such as React, Angular and Vue.js), build tools (such as Webpack and Gulp) and version control systems (such as Git), you collaborate with developers, designers and project managers to help implement UI/UX designs.
Moving up to Senior Front End Developer or Lead Front End Developer roles places you as an experienced expert in front end development concepts and best practices, qualified to lead and guide teams of developers working on large and complex projects. You are in charge of making critical planning, architecture and implementation decisions. The company’s codebase is as much your responsibility as is the aesthetic appeal of its websites or applications. To facilitate performance optimisation and accessibility, you must work with the back end team, ensure the front end code is scalable, efficient and maintainable, and make the sites and apps responsive and compatible across different browsers, operating systems, devices and screen sizes. Alongside, you must teach your team how to generate and implement reliable and cost-effective solutions.
As Lead Front-End Developer/Technical Lead, you provide your development team with technical direction, establish coding standards and guidelines, make higher-level architectural and project decisions, and collaborate with cross-functional teams. Mentoring your team members is part of your job, for which you will likely carry out code reviews and encourage members to share knowledge.
The role of Front End Architect or Technical Specialist puts you in a position of authority to guide teams in front end architecture, scalability and performance optimisation on the front end of website and app development. With the responsibility to make significant decisions, you must constantly research and review the latest technologies, tools and frameworks.
If you are inclined towards strategic planning and project management, you can shift into management and leadership roles, such as Web Development Manager, Front End Development Manager, Technical Project Manager or Product Owner. Your focus will also change from coding to leading teams of front-end developers engaged with various projects.
Reaching the highest realm in the corporate hierarchy, you may take on executive roles, such as Director of Web Development and CTO (Chief Technical Officer), which may lead to the topmost leadership role of CEO (Chief Executive Officer).
Another avenue of career advancement is to specialise in areas such as mobile app development, accessibility, React or Angular development, or performance optimisation.
Front End Developers may also diversify into other technology roles or related fields that require their design and coding skills. For instance, you may become Front End SEO Experts, Front End Web Designers or UX/UI Designers. Adding the holistic aspect of UX or user experience to your repertoire of technical abilities allows you to implement the graphical interface of websites or apps. UX delves into user testing to understand how users enjoy and use an app or website, their priorities and expectations, and what they find easy or difficult to navigate. It creates hypothetical user personas, aiming to develop intuitive and engaging platforms.
You may also opt to become a Full Stack Developer by adding back end development to your portfolio of front end development skills and relevant certification. Becoming a generalist with cross-functionality to tackle the entire stack of technology required to build an app or website can open up a wider range of job opportunities as you can work equally well with the architecture, logic and databases on the server side that are not visible to users as with front end frameworks with which users interact.
Given their skill set, Front End Managers may also transition into digital marketing, driving brand awareness and generating leads using digital channels. As Digital Marketers, you will help curate content to enhance accessibility and a business’s SEO outreach to potential clients.
With adequate experience and an extensive network, you may launch your own web development business or consultancy or lecture college and university students.
The desire to accelerate career growth and personal development has an increasing number of millennials choosing to job hop and build a scattershot resume that showcases ambition, motivation, and the desire to learn a broad range of skills.
Studies prove that job hopping, earlier dismissed as “flaky” behaviour, can lead to greater job fulfilment. Employees searching for a positive culture and interesting work are willing to try out various roles and workplaces and learn valuable, transferable skills along the way.
Candidates with the necessary skills, experience, and education have the best job prospects. A portfolio helps demonstrate your skills in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, related frameworks, and other front end development tools and technologies to prospective employers and allows you to share your projects and written code with them, as does building your brand online.
As you progress in your career, continuing professional development (CPD) helps you build personal skills and proficiency through work-based learning, professional activities, formal education, or self-directed learning. In addition to offering the opportunity to continually upskill, regardless of one’s age, job, or level of knowledge, CPD also enables the periodic renewal of desirable certifications, which increase your chances of advancement and becoming an independent consultant.
Newly hired Junior Front End Developers typically receive on-the-job training for a few months or up to a year to become familiar with the company’s specific technologies and processes.
You can add more front end languages to your repertoire, build your ability to select the appropriate one for a project and strengthen your understanding of how to program websites and apps so that they are functional across various platforms. You may also specialise in a specific area, such as React, Angular, or other frameworks.
Since web and app development technologies continuously evolve, Front End Developers must stay current with emerging tools, languages and frameworks by taking online or in-person courses and video tutorials or reading relevant industry publications, blogs and other material.
If you wish to add back end development to your portfolio, you will find it helpful to certify in relevant programming languages (e.g., Python and Java), database technologies (e.g., SQL, MongoDB), web application frameworks (e.g., Django, Flask), and cloud computing platforms (e.g., Amazon Web Services). Since back end development deals with sensitive data, qualifying for Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a globally recognised information security certification, is beneficial.
Participation in conferences and workshops and joining online web development communities helps you network, stay in touch with other Front End Developers, coders and IT professionals, and keep track of recent advancements. Online platforms for developers to share projects help you resolve queries and exchange feedback and advice among peers, thereby building your experience and skills.
Professional development courses and training to develop or strengthen skills, such as effective problem-solving, communication and teamwork, are helpful for Front End Developers, especially because they must collaborate with cross-functional development team members and other IT professionals.
Remember to maintain and update your portfolio with samples of websites or apps you have created and their outcomes to gain a competitive edge when applying for jobs and to advance your career.
Web Development
The process of creating a website is known as web development, and it is carried out using programming, markup and scripting languages. Technical but non-design work done on software for the server side equates to back end development, which is not visible to the user but ensures website functionality, correct performance and security. It includes architecture, databases, back end logic, programming and APIs (application programming interfaces). Front end development tackles the graphical user interface, its layout, images, videos, text, buttons and other visual elements. Full stack takes care of both back and front end development.
Front End Development
The rendering of websites and applications on the client side takes place on the user’s computer rather than the remote web server, using JavaScript. While a server is required for the raw web application, the browser renders it in HTML form to the user. As a result, in addition to back end logic, some front end logic also goes into creating the web page. This logic is called presentation logic, as it manages how the website or app is presented to the user on the screen on the client side.
Front End Developers are responsible for implementing the presentation logic in web development. They write the code that makes visible and interactive features available to users, such as sliders, articles, photo galleries, widgets, graphics and games. Front end development animates buttons and makes them clickable, makes chat windows appear for use or fold away when not in use, and enables sliders to move. Front End Developers can also code animations to start or end following specific actions and interactions.
Essentially, front end development focuses on optimising user experience by applying coding and technology to implement the designs that designers create, testing, troubleshooting and debugging the outcomes and making adjustments that enhance the technical quality and visual appeal of websites and apps. Since front end development is concerned with the features that users engage with directly, it integrates user interaction into the development process, such as how best to design drop-down menus and other front end components.
Web vs Full Stack vs Front End vs Back End Developer
Web Developer is a broad term that includes professionals with varying specialisations contributing to website or app development. As a Web Developer, you may be an expert in front end, back end or full stack development, aiming to build functional, efficient, responsive and dynamic websites or apps.
While both front and back end developers are experts in website or application development and work together in development teams, they specialise in different aspects.
Front End or Client-Side Developers build the user-facing components, including user interface, layout and visual design. Since users interact directly with these aspects, they add up to create the overall user experience. Collaborating with designers, they typically use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to create a website or app’s visual appeal and ensure its ease of use through responsive layouts, styles, animations, and various interactive features.
Back end developers tackle components on the server side of websites or applications, including logic, database management (data storage, processing and retrieval), and APIs, which the end user does not see. Their repertoire of programming languages includes Python, Ruby, Java, and PHP, among others, used to develop the code for the server side, which builds the functionality and infrastructure to hold up the front end. Back end developers use various frameworks, such as Django, Ruby on Rails, or Express.js.
The roles may overlap depending on the size of development teams and the scope of the developer’s skills. With proficiency in both front and back end development, full stack developers are qualified to work on all aspects of a web or app development project. They are likely to use both sets of tools and languages used by front and back end developers to achieve their goal of building a complete product, which includes database management.
Front and back end developers typically collaborate as part of a development team building websites or mobile apps and work alongside product managers, principal architects and website testers to build the structure of a website or mobile app. Some challenges that back end developers face include ensuring quick response to front-end user requests, security and backup while Front End Developers tackle issues such as search engine optimisation and user accessibility. Full stack developers address all these aspects and others using an integrated approach to web and app development.
Some Types of Front End Developers
Web Designers typically focus on designing layouts and ensuring alignment and balance with minimal coding involved. Without the services of web developers, they usually create static sites that do not require databases to store information. The pages they design remain unchanged unless a redesign is necessary. However, some web designers may incorporate web development into their skill sets.
Mobile App Developers create the user-facing components of mobile apps with the help of relevant languages and frameworks that enable usage across multiple platforms.
UI (User Interface) Designers create and improve the visual designs of user interfaces, including the layout, typography and colour schemes of websites and applications. They generate and use wireframes and prototypes to show developers the potential functioning of the UI and help them implement it.
UX (User Experience) Designers aim to optimise the overall user experience of websites and applications in terms of their usability, accessibility and user satisfaction. User research, creating user personas, designing user flows and interactions and testing to enhance UX are all part of a UX designer’s responsibilities.
Full Stack Developers include both the back and front end development of websites and applications in their skill set and are proficient in relevant languages, frameworks and databases.
Game Developers design and implement the user-facing components of games, including the user interface, graphics and interactive elements.
WordPress Developers assist clients in creating blogging based on themes from the WordPress platform.
Some Front End Programming Languages & Technologies
Front End Developers commonly use three main languages, namely, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and JavaScript, as the primary programming languages to build the user interfaces of websites or applications. Each language adds a different dimension to the website or app.
HTML is the standard markup language used for the files required to build the structure and contents of a website user interface. It helps define webpage elements, such as headings, paragraphs, lists, links, images, and forms. Browsers use mainly an HTML file to display webpage content.
CSS allows Front End Developers to style and format the layout of the web pages with aesthetic features, including customisable colours, fonts, widgets, and animations.
JavaScript, which creates the logic, allows the addition of responsive, interactive and dynamic features for users to engage with on a website or app. For instance, it helps create forms, animations, sliders, and real-time updates in web applications.
TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript with extra features, such as static typing, which helps identify errors earlier on when coding.
Some Libraries & Frameworks
Front End Developers may choose front end development tools and frameworks from the many available, according to their suitability and strengths for each use case. It is critical to stay current with the latest tools and technologies to ensure user experiences that are responsive and engaging and yield the desired outcomes for businesses and clients. Some JavaScript frameworks include React, which helps Front End Developers build interactive and dynamic user interfaces, and Vue.js, which is relatively simple, facilitates integration with existing projects, and is used to create single-page applications.
Some Important Principles for Front End Developers
Two critical principles that Front End Developers keep at the core of their development work are accessibility and responsive design. Accessibility refers to maximising the reach of a website or online application, including to individuals with impairments. One of the strategies to achieve maximum accessibility is to ensure that alternate text is available for photos and that the minimum colour contrast is available to optimise readability for the visually impaired.
Responsive design refers to optimising web pages and applications for use on different devices with varying screen sizes, particularly because of the growing use of mobile devices to access the internet. Responsive design incorporates not only the elements of accessibility and usability but also aesthetics. Consequently, Front End Developers must employ a range of languages and concepts, making it vital for them to be proficient in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and web development frameworks while also being thorough with design concepts.
Front End Developers vs UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience) Designers
As integral members of product design and development teams, Front End Developers and UI/UX designers synergise their expertise to help design and develop websites and applications, aiming at a cohesive user experience in terms of ease of use and aesthetics. However, some nuances distinguish the work of these professionals. Front End Developers manage the “how” of user interfaces and experience, while UI/UX designers tackle the “what” and “why”.
Functionality, performance optimisation, cross-browser compatibility, responsiveness, speed, and user-friendliness of the websites and applications they help develop and implement lie at the core of the work of Front End Developers. The code they build using programming languages, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, enables the technical implementation of the visual and interactive elements of the user interface of websites and apps. These elements, designed by UI/UX designers, must work well to enable users to reach the page they wish to and ensure that the data generated from the users' interaction with the app or site is saved and ready for processing.
UI/UX designers focus on the visual aspect of the user interface and the user experience, which are related. UX research of consumer behaviour, needs and goals is the starting point, which leads to building wireframes, mockups, prototypes and UX flow. UI/UX designers must ensure that the visual components they design, including layout and overall aesthetics, align with the product brand while contributing to an optimal, intuitive and visually engaging user interface and experience. With possibly some grasp of front end technologies, they essentially guide how the product looks and feels to users and how well or easily they can interact with it.
Current Scenario
The employment outlook of a particular profession may be impacted by diverse factors, such as the time of year (for seasonal jobs), location, employment turnover (when people leave current jobs), occupational growth (when new roles are created), size of the occupation, and industry-specific trends and events that affect overall employment.
The employment of web developers, including Front End Developers, shows a promising growth rate of about 25% over the next few years. While they specialise in mobile app and website development and user experience design, their expertise qualifies them to work in various businesses.
The growing use of mobile and smart devices and the increasing focus of businesses on creating optimal UI/UX designs better than their competitors have boosted the need for front-end development in recent years. However, there is also an influx of web developers, requiring startups and well-established companies to select their web development teams carefully.
Compensation packages depend on the organisation and industry as well as a candidate’s experience, qualifications, certification, skills, geographical location, and other factors. To stay effective in their roles and competitive in the job market, Front End Developers must constantly refresh their knowledge and skills while adapting to the latest tools and technologies and following best practices.
AI (artificial intelligence) is being adopted into workflows across industries, including software development. Its impact on the employment of software professionals remains to be seen. However, AI may be currently viewed as a productivity tool rather than a replacement for developers. Even if AI does not eliminate their jobs, developers will need to upgrade their skills to leverage the benefits of AI, and it might even help free up time to prioritise innovation and higher-level tasks by taking care of repetitive and mundane tasks. By the same token, to prevent burnout from higher-level creative work, companies will need to ensure a positive and enriching developer experience, an appropriate work environment and efficient toolchains for their software teams.
Potential Pros & Cons of Freelancing vs Full-Time Employment
Freelancing Front End Developers have more flexible work schedules and locations. They fully own the business and can select their projects and clients. However, they experience inconsistent work and cash flow, which means more responsibility, effort and risk.
On the other hand, full-time Front End Developers have company-sponsored health benefits, insurance, and retirement plans. They have job security with a fixed, reliable source of income and guidance from their bosses. Yet, they may experience boredom due to a lack of flexibility, ownership, and variety.
When deciding between freelancing or being a full-time employee, consider the pros and cons to see what works best for you.
Front End Developers put on their coding and design hats to ensure the functionality and visual appeal of the front end of websites and applications they help develop. Since it is the front end that users see and interact with, optimising it can make them stay on a website longer, boost search engine rankings and drive traffic. Combining their expertise in JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and relevant frameworks with their knowledge of web design concepts and user experience (UX), they aim to fulfil client and user requirements and generate an overall positive user experience. The caveat is that you must stay current with the latest technologies and tools.
Develop your reading skills as you must read extensively when you enter the field of front end development - articles, guides, manuals, and other developers’ code. Stay determined, driven and disciplined in the face of failure and doubt. Make and follow a schedule even if you work full time while acquiring front-end development skills. Practice coding independently as much as you can. Develop original projects in addition to attending bootcamps and tutorials.
Some prominent applications of AI (artificial intelligence) in front-end development are voice and image recognition and chatbots, which enhance user experience.
What do Front End Developers do?
A Front End Developer would typically need to:
Accredited
$35,517
