Job Description: Front End Developer

A front-end web developer is probably what most people think of as a “web developer”. A front-end web developer is responsible for implementing visual elements that users see and interact with in a web application so If the Back-End developer works in the shadows, this is not the case of the Front-End developer they are usually supported by back-end web developers, who are responsible for server-side application logic and integration of the work front-end developers do.

As a front end developer your mission is to make websites ergonomic and accessible to Internet users by developing a clear, fast and easy-to-use interface. Knowing that, today, websites must meet W3C standards and be accessible regardless of the browser used by the user (Firefox, Chrome, IE …)

On a daily basis, your mainly responsible for programming the interface of Internet sites according to the specifications of his client and the requirements related to accessibility and compatibility between browsers.

Here are some technologies that front-end developers use very often:

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the cornerstone of the web. All web pages and web applications are built up of HTML documents that the browser interacts with. HTML is pretty easy to learn. So while it’s technically a front-end technology, it’s useful for all developers to at least have a certain level of familiarity with it.
CSS (Cascading Stylesheets) is the ability to specify how parts of a web page look. With HTML, you can indicate that a snippet of text is a headline. But with CSS, you can change how the text looks (change color, add an underline, make it bold, change the font, etc).
JavaScript is a programming language that runs inside web browsers. Front-end developers focus on writing JavaScript code that runs directly within a web browser. JavaScript can help build fluid user interactions. Gmail and Google Maps are examples of very JavaScript-intensive apps.
Front-end developers generally focus their efforts on using these three technologies to create fluid user experiences.

So What Qualities Are Required To Become a Front End developer:

1. As a Front-End developer you must at least master HTML5 and CSS3 and have a basic understanding of advanced JavaScript libraries and frameworks, such as AngularJS, KnockoutJS, BackboneJS, ReactJS, DurandalJS.
2. Moreover, you must be ready to continually keep updating your skills and knowledge, because the industry keeps changing so fast.
3. Basic knowledge of image authoring tools, to be able to crop, resize, or perform small adjustments on an image. Familiarity with tools such as as Gimp or Photoshop is a plus.
4. Proficient understanding of cross-browser compatibility issues and ways to work around them. Proficient understanding of code versioning tools, such as Git / Mercurial / SVN
5. Good understanding of SEO principles and ensuring that application will adhere to them.
6. As you can see being a front end developer is not just having the knowledge of HTML5 and CSS3 it’s actually not enough to know just that.

So How to Become a Front End Developer?

The great thing about the tech industry is you can pick and get acesss to any profession that you want without having a degree the only thing is you just have to teach yourself the necessary skills that are required and then specialize in that sector.
Before paying or joining a paid coding bootcamp you should first start with a iintroductory online courses on HTML , CSS and JavaScript . We recommend taking a look at this site but know that there are many great coding platforms that you could learn from but these are the ones we used and can vouched for:

1. 1. Free Code Camp
2. 2. Code Academy
3. 3. Treehouse
4. 4. Lynda

Our Advice: find someone to mentor you in the industry and our founder would love to mentor you if you felt like this is what you want to learn and do.

So What Are The Possibility Of Evolution? :

If you feel like working for a company or a digital agency is not the career path for you , you can always become a independent freelancer. The only thing is you have to be good at selling yourself to new customers which will become the key to your success.

So what does a Front-End developer Make?

The salary for a Front-End developer changes enormously according to the languages that you will use and learn, but mainly as a junior Front-End developer who only masters the HTML5, CSS and JavaScript will be able to hope for a remuneration of 25.000 € per year approximately. While the same profile with good skills User Design/ Experience/ Framework MVC will be able to reach up to 35.000 € per year. After a few years of experience, the salary can become very attractive (around 50.000 € per year).Our Advice: When you are starting, many junior developers thing that you are going to start making 2k with your first job, but unfortunately that’s not how it works we all started as interns and slowly build up the conference and expertise and climbed the ladder to the 2K and more a month. So be patient and work to build yourself up and you will get there.

So conclusion remember that things evolve so quickly within the tech industry which makes things very exciting but it can also be very daunting once you get into the profession you will become very familiar with the term “JavaScript Fatigue” which is often used to describe the JavaScript community’s tendency to move towards new and shiny objects, you don’t have to worry too much about not using the latest technology just focus on specializing in the tools that can add value to you and your career.