Front-End or Back-End Engineering?
Do you want to be a front-end or back-end developer? The choice you make should be based on facts. When you leave a coding boot camp, your goals in life are what should determine the path you choose. However, if you are new to these terms, it can be quite complex, here are a few facts to get you started.
1. Front-end developers are responsible for the user experience. It is their job to ensure that a website looks presentable to visitors, thus minimizing the bounce rate from the sites. They are not concerned with more intense things like ensuring the security of customer data online.
2. Front-end programming entails the use of languages such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, and JQuery. However, these are only a snippet of the languages you will use.
3. Front-end development entails learning and coming up with creative designs, grid system, and color theory. When looking for jobs, you will mainly focus on website redesign and creation.
4. Front-end developers are always in huge demand since companies are always revamping their look to attract customers. In short, there is no shortage of work.
5. Front-end developers earn quite a lot. A beginner front-end developer could earn as much as $53,000 USD to $74,750 USD annually. An experienced one can earn over $100,000 annually.
6. Front-end developers have a job growth of 27% annually; it is driven by the growing popularity of mobile devices. It is more growth than in any other career in America.
7. There are many opportunities for career progression for front-end developers. For instance, he or she can get a career as a consultant or become a freelance developer.
8. Front-end development is easy to learn. It is considerably less complex than the back-end development since you will deal less with code and more with graphics.
9. A front-end developer enjoys flexibility. Typically, you can work from the comfort of your home or on the go. In fact, it is so flexible that a quarter of all front-end developers are self-employed, that figure continues to rise.
10. You can work for the biggest companies in America. No matter how huge an organization is, they still need someone to sort out their web design; some of the companies you could work for include AOL and Facebook.
11. Front-end developers are tasked with taking a PSD design and turning it into a working website. That means, they take an image designed using Photoshop and bring it to life as a website.
12. A front-end developer is concerned with the browser side of a website. It means that they have to spend a lot of time ensuring that their website can be accessed by most of the popular browsers. There is a constant exchange of information among browser developers and front-end designers. Each needs to be aware what the other is doing.
13. A front-end web developer does not have to know graphic design. However, they will be more competitive if they can acquire web design skills.
14. As a back-end developer, you will need to learn Ruby or Rails. It is a language loved by developers all over the world for its simplicity.
15. Back-end developers may also require learning Python. It can do everything that Ruby does. The choice depends on the communities to which you are exposed.
16. As a back-end developer, you must learn SQL. It is the universal language used to communicate with databases.
17. Back-end developers do not have to worry about creative images. Their job is to make sure that the website fulfills its purpose efficiently.
18. Back-end developers are also concerned with the implementation of data security. Their skills are crucial to ensuring that customers are not being scammed. Thus, a back-end developer’s job is never really done; they have to monitor the site often and keep their eyes and ears peeled for any new threats.
19. Back-end developers are crucial for connecting the website to the server. Otherwise, the site is a collection of beautiful graphics and texts.
20. Back-end developers’ jobs require applicants to have experience with PHP frameworks like CakePHP, Symfony, and Zend.
21. Back-end developers also need to have experience with version control software like CVS, SVN, or Git.
22. As a back-end developer, you will need to have experience with Linus as a development system to get good jobs.
23. Alternatively, one can become a full stack developer. It is an idea popularized by Facebook. A person with this distinction can work on both the front and back ends.
24. A full stack developer is more competitive since they charge one price for doing two jobs. Finding jobs when you have skills in both areas will be easy. You will also complete jobs with more ease.
25. If you would like a challenging work environment, you should choose back-end web development; you do not need to think about being tidy or creative. All you need to do is ensure that everything works out smoothly.
If you have been wondering which career path to choose, this guide should be a big help. You can also check a freelancer profile and see what skills they have listed and whether they are a front-end or back-end developer. It will help you decide the areas at which you are good, and thus you can choose your career.