Front End Developer Salary

We use websites or web applications every day for various purposes, whether it is shopping online, fetching the desired information, or wanting to showcase professional skills to potential employers. However, web developers are the mastermind behind all these websites or web applications in use today.

A web developer is an IT specialist who is tasked with the creation and maintenance of websites and web applications. In order to create responsive applications for the World Wide Web (WWW), they use the client-server approach , with the goal of offering the optimal user experience.

There are three categories of web developers: front end, back end, and full-stack. Front-end developers are in charge of working on the sections of websites that are visible to end-users, or the front end. Back-end developers are in charge of overseeing the logic that powers each component of the website. Finally, full-stack developers handle both the front-end and back-end of websites.

In this article, we shall make you familiar with the average salary of front end-developers, along with their roles and responsibilities and the skills required to become one.

So, let us start our discussion!

Who is a Front End Developer?

Let's first define the front-end before moving on to the definition of a front-end developer. The front-end of websites or web applications is simply the part visible to end-users with which they interact. Everything that you see while navigating through a web page or website, from fonts, colors, layout, sliders, buttons, and many other elements, is the front-end.

Therefore, a front-end developer is an IT specialist who is in charge of designing the user interface of websites and web apps. They leverage HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to build websites' front ends. Front-end developers are the ones who make each and every design element you see on websites.

In contrast to this, back-end developers manage the behind-the-scenes of websites or web applications, such as data storage, performance, security, and many other server-side functionalities.

We can simply say that front-end developers are like interior designers, while back-end developers are the constructors who actually built the house.

The role of front-end developers combines both designing and programming. They focus on website structure, design, content, and functionality. In addition, they are the ones who make websites optimal for all types of screen sizes, browsers, and devices. Their ultimate goal is to create a website that provides the same experience to end-users, whether they visit it on a desktop, mobile device, or tablet.

Roles and Responsibilities of a Front-End Developer

The roles and responsibilities of front-end developers vary from organization to organization. However, there are certain duties of a front-end developer that are common across every organization. They are as follows:

• Leveraging HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to bring designs to life.
• Creating and maintaining intuitive user interfaces.
• Ensuring that the front-ends of websites provide the same user experience on all screen types and devices.
• Leveraging popular front-end frameworks, like Angular and React, to build intuitive UIs.
• Creating interactive webpages so that they work with all the major browsers.
• Following the best SEO practices and guidelines.
• Testing the front-ends for usability and fixing defects.

Skills Required to Become a Front-End Developer

You need to have a wide range of skills and abilities to work as a front-end developer. The following are these skills and abilities:

• HTML/CSS

HTML is an acronym for HyperText Markup Language. It is a language that front-end developers use to structure their websites. In other words, HTML provides basic building blocks for designing web pages. Meanwhile, CSS is a short form of Cascading Style Sheet. It is a style sheet language that presents the HTML documents. It helps front-end developers create the layout of web pages, manage their color, font, and many other aspects, etc.

Both HTML and CSS are the fundamental technologies for creating web pages or websites. While CSS controls a website's appearance or display, HTML governs a website's structure.

So, to become a front-end web, learning and gaining hands-on experience working with both HTML and CSS is essential.

You can consider checking out the HTML Tutorial and CSS Tutorial to master both these languages.

• JavaScript/jQuery

Along with HTML and CSS, JavaScript is the third core technology of WWW. With only HTML and CSS, it is possible to create only static websites. To create dynamic websites, JavaScript is a must. If you want to include interactive elements on your website, whether it is audio, video, animations, or games, you definitely need JavaScript.

If you want to champion JavaScript, you can check out the JavaScript Tutorial .

jQuery is a JavaScript library consisting of a set of plugins and extensions that make it easy to use JS for creating websites. It handles various tasks, including HTML document traversal, animation, AJAX, event handling, and HTML document manipulation.

As a front-end developer, you will need to create various types of dynamic websites, and hence, it is essential to have a better grasp of JavaScript and jQuery.

• Responsive Design

It is obvious that we access websites on different devices, such as mobile phones, laptops, desktops, and tablets. If a website provides the same user experience on all the devices, we say that it has a responsive design or it is a responsive website.

Any front-end developer's main responsibility is building responsive websites. Therefore, in order to build responsive websites, you must master the responsive design concepts and how to implement them into code.

• Frameworks and Libraries

A framework is a foundation for building applications, whereas a library is a pre-written code that accomplishes a certain task. When using a framework, all the groundwork is done, and you only need to focus on high-level functionalities. Meanwhile, a library is a readily-available code that you can embed into your code to perform a specific task.

Both frameworks and libraries facilitate the creation of websites and save a lot of time. When it comes to CSS and JavaScript , you find a plethora of frameworks and libraries that help you create intuitive user interfaces.

As a front-end developer, you must at least have experience working with major CSS and JavaScript frameworks. For libraries, you should possess in-depth knowledge of all standard and widely used CSS and JavaScript libraries.

You can check out Library vs Framework .

• Version Control

Version control, also called source control, is a software that lets developers keep track of changes that have been made to their source code over time. Also, this tool helps them go back to the previous version of the source code and identify what exactly went wrong without disturbing the current version.

Git is a popular distributed version control system these days. As a front-end developer, it is essential to have experience working with at least one version control system. Since Git is a widespread VCS, you can opt for learning it.

• Testing and Debugging

Any software application or website being developed is never released into the market without testing. Testing uncovers bugs and defects in the design that needs to be fixed before making the website live.

As a front-end developer, you must be able to test the website design, identify flaws, and fix them immediately. There are testing tools available for web development, such as Jasmine and Mocha, that facilitate the testing process.

• Web Performance

Web performance implies the time required to load a website. A website's slow loading time irritates and frustrates users. You must minify CSS and JS and optimize pictures for websites to function better. Therefore, you should be able to improve website performance as a front-end developer.

Front-End Developer Salary for Freshers and Experienced

With salary being one of the most important factors when choosing a career, front-end developers get a good amount of salaries. So, choosing to become a front-end developer is a lucrative decision.

Front-end developers do not, however, receive a set wage. The compensation varies depending on a number of parameters. For instance, an entry-level front-end developer earns a lesser salary than an experienced front-end developer.

Let us now discuss the major factors that affect the annual average salary of front-end developers.

Factors that Affect the Salary of Front-End Developers

The following are some parameters that influence the average salary of front-end developers:

• Experience Level

The most important factor in determining a front-end developer's pay is experience level. You can anticipate earning an exorbitant salary if you have many years of experience working as a front developer. Meanwhile, entry-level developers get a sufficient amount of salaries but not as much as experienced ones.

The following table highlights the salaries of an entry-level front-end developer:

The following table displays the salaries of an experienced front-end developer:

• Location

From the above two tables, you might have noticed that the salaries of front-end developers vary based on locations. However, the above-mentioned ones were from different countries. In the same country, say India, a front-end developer’s salary varies depending on different states and cities. The salary of a front-developer, both entry-level and experienced, working in Bangalore is different from the one working in Mumbai or Noida.

Let us have insights into the average salary of front-end developers in different locations in India.

• Company

Another factor affecting the salary of front-end developers is company. Top-tier companies usually offer attractive packages even for entry-level developers. Many multinational companies hire front-end developers and offer them a good amount of salaries. However, the variation may be a little bit up or down.

Not only MNCs but also many startups and small companies hire front-end developers. However, they do not offer as much salary as MNCs provide.

• Skills

As discussed above, as a front-end developer, you need to hold a lot of skills. This is another important variable that affects front-end developers' salaries. Since there are a lot of libraries and frameworks available out there, having experience working with them will surely help you get an attractive salary. However, only having knowledge of CSS, HTML, and JavaScript would pay less.

Conclusion

This was all about the front-end developer salary. As everything is growing digital today, there is a growing need for web developers. Consequently, making the decision to pursue a profession as a front-end web developer would be prudent.

In this article, we have discussed four major factors that affect the average annual salaries of front-end developers, namely location, experience level, companies, and skills.

Every individual has to work initially as an entry-level front-end developer to learn new things and gain experience. However, make sure to develop all the aforementioned skills before appearing for a front-end developer interview.

Good Luck!

People are also reading:

• HTML Cheat Sheet
• CSS Cheat Sheet
• JavaScript Cheat Sheet
• Best CSS Editors
• What is React?
• Best JavaScript Frameworks
• Best CSS Frameworks
• Online JavaScript Compilers
• Best JavaScript Libraries
• Best JavaScript IDEs