What is front-end development?

Front-end development is the art of creating websites and applications and defining how users access and interact with them. Front-end developers turn designs into reality. When you visit a website, the design elements you see and interact with are created by a front-end developer.

Do organisations need front-end designers?

Yes, organizations do need front-end developers. The Internet has become the primary source of information and websites are a must for any company or business to flourish. Building a good website helps a company or business to prosper better and for that, Front End developers are needed. That creates a high demand for front-end developers in the market.

Career Roadmap for Front-End Development

A front-end web developer career is a high-potential, fun, and challenging job. “The developers that work on the front end are excited about what they do because they’re really able to leverage their creativity”, says Greg Matranga, Director of Product Marketing at Apptix. Just like other professions, the career of a Front end developer has stages as well, there is a staircase of positions to be accomplished. The hierarchy in the career road of a Front end designer is as follows:

1. Junior Developer

Your journey begins as a Junior Developer. A junior front-end web developer is an entry-level employee whose work is to work with other developers to improve the appearance of a website. Some of the elements they must review thoroughly include text, imagery, and the implementation of the design. A junior developer should have adequate knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript or Typescript, WordPress, JS frameworks, SEO optimization, Git, etc. The average salary for a Junior Frontend Developer in India is 3.9 Lakhs per year.

2. Senior Developer

Then comes the senior developer. A Senior Front-End Developer’s work is designing, testing, and implementing new and updated software programs. They take on a managerial role and lead the development team with all software development tasks. Their job is to ensure all projects are completed on time and to company specifications. To become a senior developer, one must have 4 to 10+ years of experience on the job. The senior developer must be a master of HTML, CSS, Javascript ES6 across cross-browser/device, API, modern Javascript Framework, writing performant, scalable, and reusable UI components, and CMS. Senior Front end Developer salary in India ranges between ₹ 5.2 Lakhs to ₹ 26.2 Lakhs with an average annual salary of ₹ 10.0 Lakhs.

3. Team Leader

The next advancement is a team leader. A Team Leader is responsible for all aspects of Front-end technical architecture and development including all project-related client and server technologies responsible for rendering the user experience. They create frameworks to solve complex designs and interactions that reflect the creative and art direction. They are responsible for mentorship and guidance to technical team members in all project activities. A team leader requires 5+ years of experience hand-coding HTML(5) and CSS, JavaScript,XML, DTD or Schema modeling, DOM/XPath/SAX parsing, CMS etc. Team leaders on average make around ₹ 16 lakhs annually.

4. Tech Lead

Then comes the tech lead, A Tech Lead works with front-end applications and oversees automating the various processes involved. Tech Leads are software engineers who monitor the quality of the software development team's work and ensure the success of the delivered solutions. The Tech Lead role requires professionals who comprehend software development and collaborate closely with the DevOps and the Project Manager. A Tech Lead needs years of experience in front-end development, UI/UX frameworks, coding strategies, and data sciences to qualify. Tech Leads have an average annual salary of ₹ 25 lakhs.

5. Technical Architect

And finally, the highest stage is of a technical architect. A Technical Architect is also called IT Systems Architect. He/She is a systems logistics specialist who creates, maintains, and implements IT systems for a growing business or IT firm. They design and develop front-end applications, turn business requirements into technical designs, turn style guides into front-end frameworks and coding standards, and decipher information architecture and visual designs and turn them into front-end code. The Technical Architect will need the right mix of IT knowledge and managerial skills. Knowledge of system designing, testing, and monitoring tools to troubleshoot errors and recognize performance bottlenecks, code versioning tools(GIT, SVN), working experience with Agile methodology, and fast iterative development cycles, are required for this position.

If you want to pursue a career in Front-End Development, systematic and structured learning is necessary to develop the essential skills. You need to have adequate experience with real-world projects and proper interview preparation to ace any company. If you want a course that would enable you to build a strong foundation in Front-End Development and secure a job, check out Skill Academia’s Front-End Development course.