How to Get a Job as a Front-End Developer

If you’re a web developer—someone involved the process of building and maintaining websites—you’ll be one of three kinds: a front-end developer, a back-end developer, or a full-stack developer.

Front-end development is a highly rewarding career track, since you'll build sites or apps from square one and you'll literally see the outcomes of your efforts.

Get Hired as a Front-End Developer

In a world that is constantly digitizing, front-end developer jobs are highly sought after. Once you’ve earned the required skills, you can move on to the next stage of your journey to becoming a front-end developer.

Create an Outstanding Portfolio

The first step after completing your education should be to build a portfolio to showcase your experience and certifications, as well as your ability to communicate across disciplines. A good front-end developer portfolio should include the following sections.

• Introduction – Your introduction should let employers know who you are. Briefly introduce yourself, what you do, and a create a summary of what you’ve done professionally so far, or what you’re interested in doing.
• Education – List your education and skills in front-end development. This could include your degree, skills certifications, seminar and workshop participation, or bootcamp certificates.
• Specific skills – Highlight your specialized skills, offering specifics where appropriate. For example, instead of saying ‘I am a web developer’, use a more specific description like ‘I am a JavaScript developer with expertise in AngularJS’. You can include documents, graphics, audio files, videos, presentations, and course work to demonstrate mastery in a certain skill area.
• Personal projects – Include web projects you’ve worked on and showcase your practical knowledge with examples.
• Links – Link your portfolio to your GitHub or CodePen projects. You can also provide links to your social media profiles like LinkedIn.
• Context – Whenever you’re mentioning a project you worked on, be sure to provide context like who was the project for, what the requirements were and when it was completed,.
• Awards – Include any awards or recognition you’ve received.

All of these components are crucial if you’re serious about getting hired as a front-end developer.

Prepare for the Interview

The interview process for front-end developers can be challenging. To ace the interview, you’ll need extensive knowledge in areas like web performance, system building processes, CSS layout engines, and the fundamentals of computer science.

Through the non-technical part of the interview, recruiters evaluate your past experiences and behaviors to predict how you’ll perform in the future. Your answers in a behavioral interview will also give the recruiter insights into your thinking processes, how you react to challenges, how you resolve conflicts, and whether you're a team player.

If you’re looking to get hired as a front-end developer, it’s never too soon to start preparing. Check out our article on how to highlight your soft skills in a virtual interview for more great advice that will have you feeling confident in no time.