It is believed that frontend engineers are gradually evolving into product engineers. Development based on HTML5 technology, such as WAP apps and responsive UI, will become the main work content of frontend engineers, addressing the challenges of cross-platform and cross-device implementations. Familiar programming languages for frontend engineers like JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, which have been used for years, will be supported by various platforms as open standards. The separation of product forms and data is an inevitable trend. Although the diverse requirements for product forms in the mobile era can be achieved through different technologies, it comes with significant costs. This is also the reason why HTML5, proposed in 2004, only became popular in the last two years. The current value is also substantial. Web product interactions are becoming increasingly complex, necessitating professional frontend engineers to optimize user experience and website performance. Furthermore, in projects, frontend engineers need to complement designers in their interaction design shortcomings, playing a crucial role in bridging the gap during development. A couple of frontend engineers can enable the entire development to proceed in parallel, facilitating a smoother transition from design to implementation. Wise companies should prepare frontend engineer resources. I don’t believe there is a relationship between frontend engineers and product managers. A good frontend engineer will inevitably become a good interaction designer. The understanding of information architecture by frontend engineers should be on par with that of professional interaction designers.
The core value or responsibility of a frontend engineer is to present all the hard work and efforts of the team perfectly to the users. In a technical development team, the frontend is undoubtedly the person closest to the user, followed by UI, UE, and product, then backend, DBA, and system engineers. If we liken a technical development team to a football team, then the frontend engineer is undoubtedly the forward. He receives the ball skillfully passed by his teammates and must accurately shoot it into the opponent's goal without fail... He must be clear on two points: 1. He must understand the obstacles between himself and the opponent's goal; 2. He must know how to overcome these obstacles to direct the ball into the net... He is also the one among all players who should be most aware of these two points.
Every team has its stars: a lethal forward, a central midfielder, an extraordinary defender, or an amazing goalkeeper, even a rescue coach. And certainly, any excellent player, no matter their position, can intercept the ball in the backfield, perform a long dribble, and shoot to score! However, an excellent team must have two types of personnel; front-line players think about winning the match while back-line players think about not losing. Specialization in roles leads to excellence. As a competent forward, you must be the one in the team who scores the most goals and has the best shooting technique; otherwise, what value do you have?
There are essentially three paths: one is to move forward, another is to move backward, and the third is to continuously delve deeper into frontend development. Moving forward means advancing towards user experience, interaction design, or even product design, which best reflects the value of frontend work, specifically user experience; many people will choose this path. Moving backward involves web development, focusing on databases and backend development, without distinguishing between frontend and backend, diving deep into product development and realization, merging with software engineering, where value is reflected in business functionality implementation;
Finally, there is the path of continuously deepening frontend development, such as the architectural design of various frontend libraries and frameworks, extensive research into W3C standards, in-depth study of JavaScript itself, analysis of browser principles, and understanding of network transmission protocols, etc. However, this path is quite challenging because it involves many principles and fundamental concepts, and thus not many choose to pursue it. Of course, there are those who completely leave frontend or even software development to switch careers to focus on product management or business operations. They may have a certain advantage due to their strong technical backgrounds.
