Entry Level Front End Developer: A Full Guide On Becoming An Expert

Hello newcomers! What’s about a career ladder and all skills packed for developers? Now programmers are divided into different categories, depending on what exactly they are doing and what they use to solve the assigned tasks. Front-end developers are one of the highly demanded specialists. Therefore, let’s see who they are and what these specialists are doing. At the same time, in this article ‘Entry Level Front End Developer: A Full Guide on Becoming an Expert’ we will learn how to become a Front end developer expert and what awaits you as a Senior. Well, and to get a complete overview of your profession, let’s take a look at the vacancies, compare the salary, which depends on the degree of preparation. Read on, it will be interesting!

Front-end developers are programmers who are responsible for creating the front end of a website in terms of user interface development. They monitor the correct operation and reflection of web resources top employee monitoring software in existing browsers and various electronic gadgets. Thanks to the work of front-end developers, web pages seem to come to life, receiving beautiful interactive effects: smooth transitions, pop-up menus, pop-up windows, animation elements, etc. A frontend developer has to become a good layout designer. Not a senior specialist, but he must cope with layout of any complexity. The key skills of a layout designer include:

• cross-browser adaptive layout of layouts received from the web-designer in PSD-format – convenient display of the website in existing browsers on the screens of any devices;
• cross-browser adaptive layout of email letters for mailings – each email client reads the code in its own way, but it is necessary for the letter to be displayed the same everywhere;
• valid layout – compliance with W3C standards;
• semantic layout – meaningful arrangement of code fragments on the page, correct use of tags, clear names of classes and identifiers;
• search engine optimized layout – loading speed, structured code, accents for search engines, title, description and alt + title tags for images;
• layout for CMS (ready-made site engines) – the development of complete templates and their “stretch” on the CMS;
• AJAX / jQuery – required for developing any dynamic elements on web pages, as well as for creating online application forms;
• CSS preprocessors – make it possible to develop CSS much faster;
• Photoshop – needed to separate PSD layouts into composite elements;
• SVG / Canvas – for processing applied images;
• HTML / CSS – Requires the maximum level of knowledge, since these are key tools for layout designers. Most of the time should be devoted to familiarity with Grid CSS and Flex box.

To start performing the duties, you will need to begin with knowledge of cross-browser adaptive layout. All the rest will come with time. The professional level of layout designers depends on how much they understand the Javascript language and complex functions of engines (CMS). Regarding JavaScript, it should be noted that it is usually enough for layout designers to study several libraries.

How To Become An Expert?

If you really want, you can easily find a couple of dozen online courses offering basic knowledge for free. There are many articles on the Internet on how to become a developer on your own. There are even visual diagrams of what and in what sequence you need to do in order to go from a complete beginner to a professional. It can often be seen that a person already has sufficient knowledge and skills for employment, but still continues to study something and burns out a lot in the process. He simply cannot objectively assess the results achieved, and therefore often abandons the idea of ​​becoming a programmer. Another problem with self-study is that you can acquire the wrong skills. For example, a self-taught person is able to write code that will function well, but will be bad. How can this be? It’s very simple. Programming is such, here you can solve the problem in different ways. The problem is that only a self-taught person can figure out such code, and for employers this approach is unacceptable. Having analyzed the possible options for obtaining the necessary knowledge and skills, we have to admit that the best of them is to study at online universities. So you do not have to waste precious time on trifles, you can practice in a comfortable home environment, and in some you even have the opportunity to choose the time for classes. The training is supervised by professionals who will help you find errors and develop skills for the most simple software solutions.

How Can A Programmer’s Career Develop?

So we got to the most interesting part – the career and salary of a Frontend developer. In IT, it is customary to divide specialists into Senior, Middle, Junior. The size of the salary depends on what level a specialist is assigned to. However, it should be understood that in one workplace, Junior can easily have more money than, say, Middle in another. Therefore, the existing division has a conditional and subjective nature, depending on the region, company and the specifics of the work. It is impossible to jump several steps of the career ladder at once. At the same time, everyone moves at their own pace: someone achieves an increase in a year, someone will need more time. But professional development can be expressed not only in a higher-status position, but also in new knowledge and skills. The amount of real income depends on the existing practice and experience in performing various tasks. If you write a simple code of the same type for a long time, then you can continue to be a Junior. True, in good companies this is usually not the case, and as experience accumulates, the employee begins to be given more complex and, accordingly, more highly paid tasks.

Junior: Experience: from half a year to 1-1.5 years. Tasks: common tasks that are done in a short period of time. Skills: he knows the subject area superficially; for some tasks, additional time is needed to sit and think about how best to do it. Control: requires help as well as constant control of the written code (code review). In order for a junior programmer to quickly grow to the middle, it is worth looking for a place of work where the process of personnel training and exchange of experience is established. It is better to choose a company with a lower salary, but where working time is provided for employees for trainings, learning new technologies. At this stage of a career, it is important not only to actively study, but also to consolidate knowledge in practice. You can learn many technologies in theory, but it will be useless if you do not try them out on real problems.

Middle: Experience: from 1 to 3 years. Tasks: after spending a little time, he will deal with non-standard tasks, and as for the standard ones, he does them faster and better than the junior (Junior) employee. Able to do tasks for 1 to 2 weeks. Skills: studied the subject area sufficiently to conduct a constructive dialogue with colleagues, discuss and find the best solutions. Control: if easy tasks are entrusted, then code review is usually not required.

Senior: Tasks: any difficulty. Skills: perfectly studied the subject area, independently carries out code review, is able to evaluate and consider the project globally, predicts the consequences of decisions made in the long term. Often, specialists of this level occupy leadership positions. Control: help and constant code review are needed. Senior developers are valued in the labor market, and companies are willing to pay no less for their knowledge than managers. According to the dev.by portal for March 2020, a senior programmer and a project manager have the same average salary – $ 3,000. Thus, when moving to other positions, the incentive should be not so much an increase in income as the realization of interest, either in designing programs or in managing a team.

Conclusion

In the article Entry Level Front End Developer: A Full Guide on Becoming an Expert’ I have outlined the main issues about developers’ career ladder and how to become an expert if you are still a Junior. I think that in addition to salary, work should pay dividends in the form of advanced training and professional skills. When choosing a company, pay attention to what growth opportunities it offers. A more promising company will be a company where a programmer’s career does not end with senior status, and you can try yourself in other roles if you are interested. Thanks for reading. Good luck in the journey through the IT world!