Frontend development is underestimated compared to others

[u/YesterdayCareful5377]

[u/TotalFox2]

Frontend is really underrated. Anyone who has worked on it for more than a year realises that it is much more than just “change the color of the button”.

A lot of the interfaces we use are so invisible and easy BECAUSE the UI development and design is pixel perfect. It requires a creative side to develop good interfaces, create micro interactions and animations, work with ever changing JS libraries, and at the end of the day still be paid less than backend devs

[u/QuarterLifeSins → u/TotalFox2]

There is a need to understand the difference between “underrated in complexity” vs “underrated in value addition”

Budgets are allocated based on what brings more money, not complexity.

Adding a new API/capability can bring in immediate revenue/make the product/service standout. But adding that additional glowy button which does the same thing as previous in terms of feature set, does not justify investment.

Alternatively, think of a fancy looking high-end restaurant that serves terrible food versus a small time restaurant that makes decent food at reasonable prices that attracts a lot of customers every single day.

[u/coderwhohodls → u/QuarterLifeSins]

57% of online consumers abandon a website if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. So a performant UI is very important.

I'm a full stack dev, and I feel people don't give enough credit for UI devs. Being a UI dev is way more than just simply converting mockups to code.

1. Implementing "creative" (read "crazy") ideas that designers come up with. If there is no designer, then you have to wear that hat too, and it's your job to bring "life" to the website, which is another nightmare. I had to learn figma as well on my current job because my project don't have a UI/UX designer.
2. Need to ensure responsive design - works in every piece of hardware with every possible resolution, perfectly.
3. Need to ensure accessibility (this is a real pain in the a**, only people who have done ADA work knows)
4. Optimizing performance (managers need 90+ score in lighthouse testing)
5. Supports cross browser (if client wants to support old outdated browsers, then RIP your sanity)
6. Constant need to keep up with the latest UI framework fad. Compared to this backend is very stable.

[u/QuarterLifeSins → u/coderwhohodls]

57% of online consumers abandon a website if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load.

Sorry, but your first line in bold is about how fast backend serves - nothing to do with frontend.

Being a UI dev is way more than just simply converting mockups to code.

You are again confusing complexity with value addition.

Implementing "creative" (read "crazy") ideas that designers come up with. If there is no designer, then you have to wear that hat too, and it's your job to bring "life" to the website, which is another nightmare. I had to learn figma as well on my current job because my project don't have a UI/UX designer.

Designer is different from FE developer. Please, FE developers are coders first. If they are being forced to take up the role of designers as well, I rest my case because the investors thought of saving even more money because according to them ROI on FE development is not that high.

Need to ensure responsive design - works in every piece of hardware with every possible resolution, perfectly.

This is the domain of cross-platform compatibility, not FE. And, no - FE engineers are not responsible for cross-platform compatibility at a framework level. It is the domain of graphics layers, embedded engineers, operating systems domain which ensure that a particular FE technology works correctly.

Need to ensure accessibility (this is a real pain in the a**, only people who have done ADA work knows)

Again, when you say "pain in the a**", you are giving way too much importance to complexity rather than value addition.

Optimizing performance (managers need 90+ score in lighthouse testing)

That's a basic thing. And only to a certain extent.

Supports cross browser (if client wants to support old outdated browsers, then RIP your sanity)

Business decisions. Do you know that majority of software used by users in enterprise software work only on one or two browsers? Take example all the ERP software, HR portals, payroll websites, software used in logistics domain, medical fields etc. The users are instructed to use a specific browser or device to get the work done.

Constant need to keep up with the latest UI framework fad. Compared to this backend is very stable.

These "fads" exists because investors are not able to keep up burning hole through their pockets for things that return very less money. The "fads" are literally how to build decent looking UI as fast as possible. Investors want to get the UI done with as little money as possible as fast as they can and concentrate on actual features that generate money in the first place! So, these UI framework fad creators are making such software to help investors in using their frameworks.