Respect Frontend Dev

Jens Oliver Meiert:

In order to become a better frontend developer you don’t become a backend developer, you become a better designer and advocate for the user—in a sense of acquiring an understanding of design as well as empathy for users.

When other developers look and talk down on frontend developers they don’t only show ignorance of the scope and size of frontend development, they then also distract frontend developers from their mission—because that mission is not to walk further into the server room, but to open the windows and look at the users out there.

First off, Tobi’s comments that spurred this article are moronic, and I’m sure frontend devs at Shopify were delighted to see the CEO disparage their profession. I think it’s important to point out that when challenged on his ignorant comments, he didn’t retract or apologize.

In general though, frontend development has been the subject of many hot-takes about its worthlessness. Jens does a fantastic job of not only defining how important the work we do is, but also challenging us to do this work better. It is a reminder that the quality of my work is not determined by how much JavaScript I can write, or the fancy things I can do with CSS, but how my work impacts the people on the other end of the screen.


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