From the course: Succeeding in Web Development: Full Stack and Front End

Types of web developers

From the course: Succeeding in Web Development: Full Stack and Front End

Start my 1-month free trial

Types of web developers

“

- Jobs in web development are divided in two different categories. Most developers identify as being a combination of front-end or back-end developers. A front-end developer focuses on what's in front of a user, and that's usually some type of web browser like Google's Chrome, or Microsoft's Edge. Now about a third of web developers are front-end developers that deal with code that manages the interaction between the user and the browser. Most people think that is the design of the page, but it also means the interactions that happen between users and websites. Now as the market has changed over the years, front-end developers are expected to know more about interfacing with servers, as well as programming. About half of all developers identify as back-end developers. A back-end developer focuses on what happens behind the scenes on something called a server. The code for websites and applications often relies on groups of machines that live in the cloud. These machines run programs or apps that take care of certain tasks like serving up websites, or video. So back-end developers deal with setting up these machines, designing the structure of the information, and managing the apps and services that users communicate with. Now many developers identify as a third type called a full-stack developer. This is just a combination of a front-end developer and a back-end developer. In other words, this is someone that can handle both the front and the back end of web development. In reality, there's no perfect front-end or back-end developer, so all developers are somewhere in between. The notion of a full-stack developer, is somewhat of a unicorn. Now these are some of the typical job titles, and how prevalent they are in the industry. The important thing to remember is that you need to have a t-shaped strategy for learning. Developers tend to learn a wide variety of skills, but specialize in a few that they enjoy. Now it's also smart to specialize in what makes you more marketable. And that's why it's important to keep learning, because what's marketable changes constantly.

Contents