Front-end development is a field of technology that has been in demand. Many people think that front-end development as a profession is dying. However, statistics show that in 2022, this field of technology is still standing and continues to be one of the most important and sought-after professions in tech. Because of this, front-end developers are now needed more than ever and this has led to many people taking interest in learning and building a career in it.

What is Front-End Development?

Front-end development is a branch or stack of web development that involves the building of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) of a website using three major stacks — HTML(HyperText Markup Language), CSS(Cascading Style Sheet), and JavaScript.

Apart from these three stacks being the primary building blocks of front-end development, other frameworks are used to create functional and responsive websites. Some of these frameworks include Bootstrap, Tailwind CSS, and React. These frameworks solely contribute to making the websites or web pages more interactive and easy to navigate for the users.

One who builds and develops websites is called a Front-end developer.

The Beginning of Front-End Development

Front-end development started from a need to allow users to interact freely with the web. It started with HTML. The first HTML specification was made public in late 1991 by Tim Berners - Lee. It consisted of only 18 tags and supported only text at the time. Years later, there was a need for more functionality, and CSS was created. Hakon Wium Lie created CSS in October 1994, and a new version of HTML was also created. Since then, about 5 more versions of HTML have been made and now have up to 150 tags to perfectly accompany the use of CSS in building web pages.

After HTML and CSS, a new scripting language called Mocha was created by Brendan Eich in 1995. It was later renamed LiveScript, then javascript. According to statistics, JavaScript is now used roughly by 65 percent of developers globally to build web applications.

The Growth of Front-End Development

Over the years, Front-end development has gained so much relevance and has become one of the top tech fields in the world.

As Front end development grew, the demand for more developers has been on the rise and remains to be. This has caused a spike in the number of front-end developers today. There are over 80,000 front-end developers only in the United States and there are at least two front-end developers in a company.

Why Will Front-End Development Remain Relevant?

While there have been speculations that Front end development as a profession is declining, there are major factors that show otherwise:

• Accessibility:

  Front-end development is regarded as one of the most accessible fields in tech to learn. One can become a front-end developer within 9 months, without any previous knowledge of the field. There are also thousands of study guides and free courses on Front-end being released on the internet every day. Therefore, when materials are this easy to access, it is much easier to venture into the field.

• Growth and Expansion:

  Front-end development is widely known for its massive growth. In the beginning, only HTML, CSS, and Javascript were used to make websites interactive. Now that several frameworks have been introduced, Front end development is no longer used to make websites interactive, but to create a fully functional webpage. With this level of growth, this field of tech does not show any sign of decline.

• Salary:

  When talking about the relevance and growth of Front end development, the salary increase is one factor that cannot be left out. Due to the advancement of technology, there has also been a rise in the salary of front-end developers. In the last 25 years, the average salary of a front-end developer has increased by almost 30% making the average front-end developer earn up to $70k per year. This is a major factor that causes an interest in learning for a lot of individuals.

Conclusion

While there are already a lot of front-end developers today, there is still a high demand for more because eight out of ten companies require a functional website to enhance their businesses. We can also see that over the years, there has been a significant level of development in the field. This is enough proof that Front-end development will continue to remain relevant and an important field of technology.