Skills of a Front-End Web Developer

Skills of a Front-End Web Developer

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You may be wondering what is a front-end web developer anyway and how does this differentiate from a regular developer.

You see there are three main types of developers:

1. Front-End Web Developers
2. Back-End Web Developers
3. Full Stack Web Developers

Let’s briefly explain the difference between the three.

A front-end web developer focuses on taking a design of a site and making it appear on the web. What they focus on is the presentational side of development, taking a static image of a design and making it appear on the web browser. They will be able to code the site’s content, style it, and add basic functionality using primarily three programming languages: Html5, Css3, and JavaScript.

A back-end developer focuses less on styling of a site and more on functionality. They will do things like hook the site to a database, make an online ecommerce store work, make a web application that takes data from users and dynamically display that data from a database back to the web or other device. They can also implement other things like contact forms, data driven development, and user authentication systems. These programmers use programming languages such as: php, ruby, python, java, C#, and asp.net these programmers also have a basic understanding of front-end web development.

A full stack developer is someone who can do it all. These are very impressive programmers that have a command of both front-end development practices and coding languages as well as back-end programming languages. They understand good design, how to implement that design, and how to make that design function programmatically.

There are also other people that come into the mix such as graphic designers, UI / UX designers but I will leaver that for another article.

A front-end web developer focuses on the presentational side of development. Share on X

So back to what skills you need as a front-end web developer. When you search on Indeed the lines of a front end-web developer are being blurred with other forms of developers however one thing remains consistent. The three must have programming skills you need are:

1. Html5
2. Css3
3. JavaScript

These are the three must have skills. Another greatly beneficial skill is knowing jQuery which is a light JavaScript framework which is incredibly popular. On top of that it’s a good idea to know about UX and UI. These stand for User Experience and User Interface design, and together they are very valuable skills that make up a well-rounded front-end web developer. UX consists of user flow and process of interaction, UI consists of the presentation of visual components people use when interacting with websites and mobile apps. You will notice a lot of front-end development jobs ask for UX and UI skills.

Another valuable asset to add to your skillset is learning popular JavaScript frameworks. A framework that is very handy to know is Bootstrap 4, this framework doesn’t take a long time to learn and will greatly speed up your workflow once you get comfortable with it. It is also extremely popular to use in rapid development.

Once you have these skills down pretty well it’s important to start implementing these skills in projects and build yourself a nice portfolio.

If you are feeling adventurous and want to know more you can venture out and learn how to use WordPress which will take your front-end web development skills and use them in conjunction with some basic back-end development skills to build very useful and easy to manage websites. These sites are very handy for non-technical website owners because they can maintain their website on their own, to some degree.

However if you want to purely focus on front-end web development, then I would recommend learning some more advanced JavaScript frameworks such as Backbone, Angular 2, React, and others. Knowing a JavaScript framework will make you stand out above other people who know just the basics. However you will need to dedicate a significant amount of time to learning JavaScript in depth if you want to begin building web applications using these frameworks. Remember that frameworks are always changing and evolving, and are not as stable as the programming languages that have been around for years. While these frameworks are in demand for front-end web developers, overall learning more stable technology is a better practice because your skills will be relevant for much longer then temporary trends. A good example of a framework that was not very solid and stable right from the beginning is Angular. When Angular 2 came out they practically wrote it back up from the ground up and many of the practices used in Angular 1 were all changes and had to be re-learned to use and implement Angular 2. Years ago there were many php frameworks that appeared and vanished as well. So before learning a framework, make sure it is well established and is in to stay for the long haul. If you are interested in learning more stable technology I would recommend getting into some basic php and WordPress as there is equally the same if not more opportunity for work and learning these skill will prove more valuable for the long term gain.

My recommendation is to see what is available to you in your local city or town and learn what is in demand for you locally, start networking with other developers and business owners, build projects for yourself, find local clients, and work on gaining some connections so by the time you are ready to apply for work, you will have a circle of people you know who you can ask if they or anyone they know are in need of your skills. Keep applying on indeed, keep networking, keep at it until you find success.

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