Everything You Need to Know About Front-End Developer Salary

How to get one of the best front end web development jobs and jumpstart your career.

If you are a Computer Science graduate and you can think analytically, solve problems, and have the ability to communicate well, you can use your talents to become a highly-paid Front End Developer.

What is a front-end developer?

Front-end development refers to everything that users see, touch, click, and use — the visual layout, interaction, UX/UI, and user experience. It is also known as client-side software and consists of buttons, images, links, and pages that all need to function efficiently, accurately, and quickly.

Source: Unsplash

How does back-end development compare to front-end?

Back-end development, on the other hand, differs from front-end development as it involves the code and behind-the-scenes technology that makes the front-end user interface work. Back-end developers are concerned with algorithms, architecture, databases, testing, and debugging. Core back-end developer skills include Ruby on Rails, Python, SQL and PHP, Java, and .Net.

UI designers are then responsible for making the site engaging, attractive, and to hold the users’ attention, while UX designers are responsible for increasing user satisfaction by improving accessibility, usability, and human-computer interaction.

Front-end developers are highly in demand

Front-end developer skills including web design, maintenance, and web development are some of the hottest and most in-demand skills today. In October 2018, Glassdoor advertised 14,157 front-end developer jobs in the USA, 6,350 jobs in the UK, and 1,070 in Canada.

What skills do you need to be a front-end developer?

Core front-end developer skills are:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript (JQuery)
• CSS and JavaScript Frameworks

Additional skills that are helpful to have are:

• Video editing
• Design skills (Adobe Creative Cloud)
• UX and UI
• SEO
• Wireframing/Prototyping tools
• Google analytics

Front-end developer salaries in 2018

According to the recruitment statistics of Glassdoor, the average junior front-end web developer salary in October 2018 is $92,738 in USA, $50,624 in Germany, and $44,706 in Canada.

We researched the average front-end developer salary in USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Nigeria. The statistics below are for October 2018.

Average computer professional salaries

According to Payscale, in the USA, front-end developers earn the second highest salary in comparison to software engineers, computer programmers, web designers, and back-end developers.

Geographical location

Geographical location is a major factor affecting salary.

The average front-end developer salary in the UK in 2018 is $39,903, but the average in London, UK is $45,539.

The average in the USA is $92,738, but the average in New York is $111,728.

Salaries vary significantly depending on the city that you choose to work in, so it is worth doing your research in advance.

If you want to research front-end developer average salaries or front-end developer hourly rates in your location, you can do this on Payscale — an excellent resource for professionals that provides information on salary, benefits, and compensation.

Hourly rates

According to IT Jobs Watch, in October 2018, the median hourly rate in the UK for front-end developers is $58 per hour and the median daily rate is $580.

According to Codementor, an online mentorship marketplace for developers, in the USA, the average global hourly rate is $61 – $80.

The average hourly rate in Canada is $20 according to Payscale.

How to get on your way to a new highly paid career as a front-end developer

If you enjoy challenging projects, love problem-solving, and want to jump start your career, gaining front-end web developer skills will open doors to a successful, secure, and lucrative future.

Employers want to see that you are motivated, serious, intelligent, and hard-working. They want to be sure that you are committed to your chosen career and want to see that you have invested your valuable time in it.

Whether you are interested in front-end or back-end development, an employer wants to see that you have a thorough academic and practical grounding in the subject. The route to achieve this is by accomplishing a degree in Computer Science. You can study in a physical building or you can study online — both are equally accepted by employers.

BSc/Associate degree in Computer Science

Once you have made that decision to go ahead and work towards your career goal of achieving a high salary in an in-demand profession, start with researching Computer Science degrees.

University of the People offers an Associate and Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science with a strong academic foundation and real-life applications.

UoPeople prepares students for employment with hands-on specialized experience and mentoring programs. UoPeople is the first tuition-free, non-profit, American accredited online university which provides flexible, accessible, affordable, and high-quality education. We charge only an application fee and assessment fee per completed course and scholarships are available to students who cannot afford these fees.

You will receive the highest quality education in programming fundamentals, databases, web programming, software engineering, operating systems, artificial intelligence, algorithms, data security, and mobile applications.

A common concern for potential students of online education is the perception that some employers have an outdated stigma of online education. Rest assured, times have changed as an increasing number of top-ranking universities have started to offer online alternatives to their degree programs.

Therefore, the distinction between studying online and in a physical building has become less important. Employers are more interested in what you know and what you can do for them, than what method you used to gain your knowledge.

How to become a front-end developer?

Once you have made the decision to jumpstart your career, get ahead, achieve your full potential, and earn a lucrative salary, take the following 4 steps:

Start Coding

Check out w3 Schools, Codecademy, and Teamtreehouse, websites that give free taster and beginner courses on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ruby on Rails, PHP, Python and SQL.

Stay up-to-date with coding newsletters

Loggly displays links of all the newsletters to keep programmers and developers up to date on all the latest news. Reading up-to-date information will not only keep you informed, but you will also be able to impress an interviewer with your subject knowledge.

Attend international events

Check out Developer Events, New Relic, and BMC for details on international events and conferences for developers and programmers.

Get a degree

Try the BA Computer Science or Associates Degree at UoPeople. Once you are qualified and have learned all these skills, you will then be on your way to a successful and secure future.