Front End Developer vs Back End Developer – Job, Skills, Salary

By Coding Ninjas

Check out the major differences between a front-end and back-end developer with respect to educational background, skills required, job profile and average salary.

With most of the professions now going online, requiring a website to run or aid their businesses, there has never been a better time to become a website developer.

The "How" to become a web developer may seem a daunting question if one doesn't know the "What" of it. In this post, we will explore the two types of web developers – front-end and back-end.

Let's start with Front End Development:

What is Front End Development?

There are multiple stages in the website creation process. It starts with a designer coming up with a design idea for the website. The computer science experts who convert the idea and realise the design with the aid of programming are known as Frontend developers.

Front end development is how a particular design gets realised into a website.

Course/academic background needed

Bachelor's degree in computer science

Skills learnt during the course

Computer Graphics, Data Structures and Algorithms, Software Engineering, Web Design & Development, Front End technologies (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)

Job profile

A front-end developer's task is to take the design idea and with the help of technology, convert it into a website. Front end developers produce code consisting of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. A front-end expert adds contents of various kinds such as images, buttons, search-bar, internal links, navigation bar, forms, and payment gateways.

Average salary for fresher

According to PayScale, the average front end developer salary in India is around Rs 4,87,039 per annum. This figure can range between Rs 10,00,000 per annum and Rs 1,95,000 per annum depending on various factors.

What is Back End Development?

Back End developers make the use of the "behind the scene" databases smooth. E.g. when one enters the credentials and get into their social media account in almost no time, it is the very back end developers who make it possible.

The back end part of the website could include a database (e.g. user information on social media websites - their name, friends, photos) and a programming language (Python, Ruby, JavaScript) which interacts with the server that contains the databases and hosts the website.

Course/academic background needed

Bachelor's degree in computer science

Skills learnt during the course

Data Structures and Algorithms, Databases, Operating System, Software Engineering, Computer Networking

Job profile

A back-end developer's job is to make sure their company's website is operating swiftly. These developers ensure that the data requested by some user is always available.

Average salary for fresher

According to PayScale, the average back end developer salary in India is around Rs 3,93,054 per annum. This figure can range between Rs 8,05,000 per annum and Rs 8,59,884 per annum depending on various factors.

Read More:

• Game Designer vs Game Developer – Job, Skills, Salary
• What do Software Engineers do?  
• How to become a software Engineer 

About the Author:

This article is authored by experts at Coding Ninjas.