7 Best Front-End Remote Jobs

Lately, developers have been subject to an exceptionally high demand from any kind of business or company. Specifically, regardless whether a business is an e-commerce or brick-and-mortar business, whether it’s a multinational corporation or a small family business, each of them has felt the pressure to move their operations online.

Doing business online brings many advantages, such as a larger number of potential customers, lower costs and access to low-cost advertising, but it also requires some skills to convert something into a digital format.

As a result, many business owners and companies hire developers who are responsible for creating and maintaining software programs, applications and websites. Of course, the potential skill set of developers is extremely wide, with tasks ranging from AI development to graphic design, so at some point in their careers many professionals decide to limit themselves to their preferred niche.

In this article, we’ll take a look at possible career paths that front-end developers can take. First, we define what a front-end developer does and what skills are required for the job. Then, we weigh the pros and cons to assess whether it could be a viable career path, and at the end, we list the best 7 remote front-end jobs.

What Does A Front-End Developer Do?

A front-end developer is a person who focuses on developing the “client-side” portion of software programs, applications, and websites. More specifically, front-end developers deal with what the end user sees when they use the tools they create.

Therefore, it is not uncommon for this type of developer to have a keen eye for detail, beauty, and design, while also having extensive programming and coding skills to ensure that the website or program runs smoothly.

Backend developers, on the other hand, are those who work on the “server side” of a project. Their job, therefore, is often to write code, fix bugs, and store data without worrying about the design or final look of the project.

In addition, especially in smaller projects, there is often no distinction between back-end and front-end, as in these cases companies often hire full-stack developers who build and maintain both sides of the project without distinguishing between the two.

What are the Skills Needed To Become A Front-End Developer?

Of course, since these professionals are developers, they must be well versed in HTML and CSS. HTML is a widely used programming language for structuring and designing the content of a web page, while CSS is code that works in conjunction with HTML and is used to control certain aspects of a website, such as the font, spacing, text, headings, colors, and more.

In addition, front-end developers must be proficient in JavaScript, a language used to create and implement interactive features such as drop-down menus, carousels, animations and more. However, developers are often familiar with frameworks and libraries. These are a collection of “pre-built” code that can be used with just a few tweaks, saving developers time by not having to write code from a blank page.

Moreover, in addition to coding and programming language, front-end developers must be familiar with the best practices used to make a website easy for users to navigate and easy to place on the web.

For this reason, a good knowledge of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and web design is required to ensure a great user experience and a successful end result.

Does Front-End Development Represent A Good Career Path?

Despite the fact that it can be very difficult to predict future demand for a particular career field, the importance of front-end developers is undeniable. Moreover, developers are not only needed by companies from the technology industry, as nowadays every economic entity needs some kind of software or website.

For this reason, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimates that the demand for front-end developers will increase by 23% between 2021 and 2031. This is a significant figure, considering that demand in many other occupations will decline by 2031.

Another feature that speaks to a career as a front-end developer is salary. According to a recent Glassdoor survey, the average annual salary in the United States is $84,530. In addition, there are significant opportunities for advancement in these positions, and when a front-end developer reaches the senior level, they can expect an average annual salary of $158,001.

Which Are The Best 7 Front End Remote Jobs?

1. User Experience (UX) Developer

A user experience developer is the person responsible for ensuring that the end user has a pleasant interaction with the program or website. For example, if a website is stunningly beautiful, but it is not easy to navigate, the information is hard to find, and it loads extremely slowly, how good is it really?

Among the most important tasks of a UX developer is ongoing customer research aimed at discovering any strengths, pains, and goals when interacting with the platform. This information is then used to identify potential “user journey maps,” which are the paths end users take on the website to get the information they need.

The final step is to conduct numerous user tests to improve the user journey by implementing more efficient alternatives or reducing loading times.

According to a Glassdoor survey, the average annual salary for a UX developer in the U.S. is $108,300, with the possibility of increasing to $128,662 when the developer reaches the senior level.

2. User Interface (UI) Developer

User interface developers, on the other hand, are those who design and create the graphical parts of software programs, applications, and websites. Thus, these experts focus less on the functionality and speed of the project and more on its appearance.

More precisely, the most common activity of UI developers is to design the layout, i.e. to determine how long each section of text should be, how many images, whether certain data can be displayed in a diagram, and so on.

In addition, UI developers also need to specify the color palette and font type and size for the tool they are developing.

Even though these may seem like insignificant details, these aspects are extremely important, since the way something is presented has a very strong influence on whether the user will like the tool and use it again.

Therefore, UI developers also earn quite a good salary, as the average total annual salary in the US is $94,344, with the possibility of increasing to well over $110,000.

3. Mobile Developer

A mobile developer is a professional who specializes in developing applications and websites for cell phones. Just as there has been a strong transition from a brick-and-mortar world to one that is almost entirely digital, in recent years, thanks to evolving cell phone technology, the digital world has become a “mobile” world in which most people conduct online activities directly from their phones.

However, because computers and smartphones interact with the Internet and websites in completely different ways, such as different screen sizes and formats, a digital keyboard as opposed to a physical keyboard, and more, most digital content must be adapted or built differently for cell phones.

As a result, the demand for this job is very high and the average annual salary for a mobile developer in the U.S. is $116,832, with the possibility of rising to $189,245 if they reach the senior level position.

4. WordPress Developer

A WordPress developer is an expert in creating, maintaining and updating websites using WordPress, one of the most common platforms for creating websites.

Although WordPress makes creating a simple website extremely easy, once you dig a little deeper, you’ll discover the true complexity behind creating a custom website. WordPress developers are not only aware of all the features offered by the platform itself, but also all the free and paid external plugins that can improve the look and functionality of a website.

Also, WordPress developers should be able to create an external plugin for a website when needed if there is no similar or compatible plugin available from the internet.

On average, WordPress developers in the U.S. earn an annual salary of $88,568, with the chance of an average salary of nearly $120,000 if promoted to senior developer.

5. Web Developer

Another great career path for a front-end developer looking for a remote job is that of a web developer. These professionals are responsible for creating and maintaining websites, paying attention not only to the final look, but also to the performance of the website.

Unlike WordPress developers, web developers are familiar with how to create a website from a blank page and rely on lines of code to place each element on the page and select font and color.

Therefore, to become a successful web developer, one must have a good knowledge of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other programming languages to determine the layout and style of the website. Also, it is not uncommon for web developers to use scripting languages such as Python, PHP and Ruby to interact with databases and create custom content for their clients.

In addition to technical skills, web developers must also have a good eye for detail and be able to troubleshoot problems, as troubleshooting and finding ways to improve efficiency are part of a web developer’s daily tasks.

The average salary for a web developer is $81,953 with the possibility of increasing to $133,868 if the web developer is promoted to senior web developer.

6. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Accessibility Developer

The search engine optimization and accessibility developer is a person who specializes in helping websites rank well on the Internet. Typically, this position does not require a strong understanding of programming and scripting, but it does require many other technical skills.

First of all, a good understanding of the Internet and search engines is extremely important. Then, they need to study the indexing rules of the said search engines to make sure that the websites are easily crawlable and can be placed on the internet without any problems.

An SEO developer’s job when working on a website is then to discover and insert relevant keywords, change the structure of the website and create internal and external links to ensure that the page can be placed as high as possible in the search results.

On the other hand, when working on a website, they can be tasked with increasing domain authority, building and maintaining backlinks, and much more.

SEO and accessibility developers earn an average annual salary of $88,065 in the U.S., which can rise to over $110,000 with experience.

7. Customer relationship management (CRM) developer

The last developer type in this list is the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) developer. A CMR is a software program that helps companies manage interactions with their customers by tracking leads, progress, contracts, and other relevant information.

A CRM developer is an expert in these software platforms and is able to develop add-on applications and plugins that better suit the needs of the company they work for. They may also be responsible for conducting customer research to increase the company’s efficiency, participate in strategic decision-making, and provide technical support for the implementation of new software solutions.

CRMs are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, as most businesses moving online need an organized system to keep track of their customers. For this reason, the demand for CRM developers is exceptionally high and their salary is far above average.

The average annual salary of a CRM developer in the US is $121,137, with the possibility of it rising to over $200,000 if you reach a senior position in a well-paying company.

Conclusion

In summary, there are many different jobs that offer a front-end developer a good salary and the opportunity to build a solid career, even if working remotely.

This is because front-end development is a flexible job that can be specialized to one of many niches. Some developers prefer to specialize in a single software or application, such as WordPress and CRM developers, while others prefer to work in a fairly large field to ensure that no potential client is left out.

However, there is one characteristic that runs through all front-end development jobs: ensuring that the client-side part of the project is optimized and efficient.

Finally, it’s important to mention that front-end developers earn a much higher-than-average salary, but it’s justified by the demands and responsibilities of these professionals. But even if there is no free lunch, these alternatives can be a great opportunity for individuals who want to try their hand at front-end development!