In December of 2011 I wrote what turned out to be the most discussed post on my website. It was simply called “Skills for Front-End Developers” and it mostly just contained a long list of skills that might appear on a job posting for a front-end developer role.
The list is probably a little out of date, but I have updated it a few times. The two main beefs people have with my list are:
Why include back-end languages like PHP as “front-end” skills?
The list is too long, no single person will know all of that.
In response to the first point, I think this comment sums up my view:
“I think PHP, Ruby, or any other programming language is fair to list, but I would hope that most employers are only expecting a basic understanding of these languages. Front-end Devs need to know how to work in templates, which are often written in some form of “back-end” language. That doesn’t mean they will be creating their own plugins or building entire websites on their own.”
“A little bit of programming (in general), solid HTML, CSS, Javascript background, a good RSS Reader and qualified feeds to read […] That’s all. The other things will come to you as you work in the industry IMO.”
The main reason I posted the “article” was to offer developers a list they can reference should they be thinking of upgrading their skills.
But what do you think? Have things changed since then? Do employers nowadays expect too much from what we call a “front-end developer”? Can we define a front-end developer from a specific set of skills?
What constitutes a front-end developer is ultimately in the eye of the job poster. I’ve seen jobs that require backend experience but they have the job listing as front-end. I think (hope) they only want you to be familiar in the language so you don’t sink when they throw your code in.
I do not believe we can specifically define what a front end developer is, since everyone has different definitions. I do believe it should be everything minus server side languages and database interaction; just me though.
For the right price, employers can expect whatever they want, so I can’t really fault them for wanting as much as they do. If they are going to shell out the money, they might as well make a wish list and try to nab someone who fits the bill.
Apps are becoming more and more heavy front-end applications that just talk to the backend and personally I just see this trend getting stronger over time. “A little bit of programming (in general) solid HTML, CSS, JavaScript background” doesn’t make a whole lot of since. Which is it? A little bit of programming? Or a solid JavaScript background?
Plus, it depends on the job. Is it for web apps or web sites? An app is probably going to need a lot more complicated and maintainable JavaScript than a site.
In my job, I could probably be considered a front-end dev. That’s where I live. I write my own Java services and write my own servlets to feed my front-end JavaScript and my JSTL templates. Is there a need for someone writing my services feeding me data? Why shouldn’t I be expected to just do it myself? All I’m doing is basically turning SQL results into JSON. Or I might possibly be feeding my JSTL some basic data.
The true backend stuff exists behind all that doing massive data processing that’s the reason the front-end app even exists. And the majority of it’s written in C++ and stored procs (and ofc Java). I don’t touch any of that. It all get’s updated in the Database. I’m the “GUI Developer”.
I can’t speak for employers, IMHO they want someone with a college degree, 20+ years experience while being only 20 years old (i.e. not close to retirement or likely to use health benefits) and willing to work for less than minimum wage with no benefits.
My take is that “front end” is what the user sees (browser) and back-end is the “server-side stuff”
Front end would include HTML, CSS and JavaScript, perhaps image optimization and if lucky a sense of "design:’
Knowledge of more is important, but I suspect that a degree of expertise in those is expected of a "front-end’ dev