The front-end is...

It’s been my experience that most front-end developers know the feeling of being mislabeled for their skills: “The front-end? Oh, that’s just wireframes and fonts and…”

😒

Yeeeeeah nope! The front-end is also:

Design

Yes, front-end developers design. Maybe not 100% of them, but c’mon, it’s an integral part of development. They design everything from interfaces to APIs, so let’s give these people props!

Code…lots and lots of it

You think that stuff in the browser runs on fairy dust?

Testing

We test the code, we test the UI, we test the experience. Then we refine it all and retest.

Problem-solving

User abandon rate high? Load times not what they should be? Need the whole thing to interact with assistive technology? Keep it coming.

Hard

See everything I mentioned above, then see everything that I mention below.

Cutting-edge

How many new web-based features were introduced last week alone? Which ones are being implemented in nightly builds? Keeping up with all of it is a challenge in itself.

Fun

Sure, the front-end can be chaotic — and at times a headache — but it’s also a lot of fun to work on something that will get in front of a lot of users.

Implementation

We package it, we deploy it. To users, to the world.

Data

We collect data, we work with data, we produce data.

Multi-platform

This stuff has to work in different browsers on different devices, running on different operating systems across different networks.

UI, UX, UEverything

Users are our lifeblood. We do this to make things better for them.

Debugging

It works great over here, but not over here. This device is okay, but not this one. And performance throttling isn’t what it should be. Could ‘ya fix all that, and also get your TPS reports in?

Production

We deliver a product. A tangible, usable product to customers.

Tough to describe!

Hey, you give it a try and see how far you get. The front-end is complicated.

Rewarding

We’re changing the way people interact with the web, the way they manage their lives. That’s kinda huge.

Everywhere

Take a look around. It’s a big online world out there. Anything you’re interacting with has a front-end component to it.

Really, really awesome!

I can’t imagine ever doing anything else.