How to Differ Frontend Developer from UI Developer?

If we look at the web development arena, we will find a big demand for UI developer, designers and UI engineers round the globe. The main driver of this big demand is the great benefits of user interface development in all kinds of software applications and websites. And it’s important nowadays to know the difference between UI developer and front end developer.

Every small and big organization is focusing on achieving greater user experience through easy and attractive user interfaces. According to The American Genius, every $1 dollar invested in improving user experience returns from $2 to $100 in a very short period. The web UI developer is one of the core roles that helps to enhance user experience. Let’s decide UI developer vs web developer what expert you need more?

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Importance of UI Designers and UI Design

In web development, the user interface (UI) is the outlook of the web page that the users interact with while visiting any website or software application. The user interface is designed for the visitors to accomplish their tasks easily without any confusion to enhance user experience. The user interface includes multiple components of a web page such as, screen, images, menu, button, icons, checkbox, input fields, call out, animation, and others.

According to IBM research information, any $10 invested in the ease of use of any product will return $100. Another research conducted by Forrester suggests that about 16.6% of the online user with good experience on your website will recommend your products to others.

What Is UI Frontend Developer?

The role of a user interface UI front end developer is much bigger and comprehensive web development based on the HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Ajax, and other client-side technologies. The user interface focuses more on the complete user interface development based on common technologies, animation and other techniques to create easy to use interface that creates great user experience.

The UI frontend developer resume needs to be much stronger than the UI developer resume in terms of technologies, techniques and other tools. Along with the coding of the web interface, the testing is also one part of the responsibilities of a user interface frontend developer.

In contrast to UX designer vs UX developer, where the tools and technologies used by those roles are a bit different, but in the comparison of frontend developer vs UI developer, the role of a frontend developer is bigger (in terms of scope) than the UI developer. Both roles use the same technologies, but the frontend developer has to be much stronger in scripting technologies.

What Is the Difference Between Frontend Developers and UI Developers?

User interface developer and UI frontend developer are two very critical roles in modern-day responsive web designing to create a great user experience. The line between the two roles is very blur. A good user interface frontend developer can be a good UI developer, but a good user interface developers may or may not have the same qualifications as a good frontend user interface developer.

The roles of UI designer vs UI developer are different. The responsibilities of a UI developer are a subset of the responsibilities of a frontend UI developer in terms of technologies, tools and activities that they perform on web development projects.

Basic Toolkit of UI UX Developer Vs Front End Developer

The main tools that UI/UX designers use are:

• Sketch;
• Figma;
• Adobe Photoshop;
• Adobe Illustrator;
• InVision.

All these software options related to designing and prototyping wireframes that then need to be built by front-end developers and turned into reality. Front-end coders, in turn, mostly use:

• HTML;
• CSS;
• Java Script;
• Ajax;
• Angular.js;
• Chrome Developer Tools;
• jQuery;
• GitHub;
• Bootstrap.

The list of tech to know for front-end experts is much longer and varies a lot from one project to another. However, all these technologies are used for implementing the existing user experience design and user interface solution. So, when considering between UI developer vs front end developer, you need to identify your project needs and pay attention to software and technologies a potential candidate specifies in. Although most front-end developers perform UI/UX design during the development stage, not all of them specify in prototyping solutions.

Work Specifics of UX Designer Vs Front End Developer

For easier evaluating and a broader picture, we prepared a handy comparison table where you can see each specialist’s specifics.

The main difference between the responsibilities and resume skill sets are given in the table below.

So, when choosing UI UX developer vs front end developer, you need to understand the specifics of your project. If you need a large-scale, complex solution, instead of picking between front end developer vs UI developer, you may need both experts to share the load or even a dedicated team. If you need a scalable web option, both front end developer vs UI UX designer may still be handy.

And if you need to build a simple website or app, a front-end UI expert will be more useful when considering UX designer vs front end developer. For small to middle-scale companies that operate in retail, for example, there’s no need to choose UX engineer vs front end engineer if you have a limited number of goods and services to offer. However, if you build a multi-functional app or need a website with complex account settings, the question regarding UI designer vs front end developer logically pops up in your mind.

Let’s compare demand, project examples, salary rates, and resume samples of UI UX vs front end developer to provide you with a clear picture of what these specialists can do for your business.

Who Is in Great Demand – UI or Frontend Developer?

The latest survey pertaining to the hot skills in the technical job market conducted by the Computer World suggests that web development is the 6th hot skilled job in the domain of information technology. A bigger portion of this demand is about UI front end developer and Javascript developers for hire jobs.

Meanwhile, according to CEB’s global report about the global hiring demand information, JavaScript is the most demanded skill in many major countries like Germany, US, UK, China and others. It is most commonly used in web development by the UI frontend developers. According to the Quora answers, the UI front end developers are in high demand as compared to the UI developers.

The demand for UI frontend developers is much higher than the normal UI developers due to many good reasons. The first and most important one is that small and medium-size companies prefer multi-tasking of technical resources, which is easily possible by hiring a UI front-end developer who will also be able to fulfill the responsibilities of a UI developer.

The second important reason is the demand for skillsets and technologies. JavaScript, Ajax and other such kinds of technologies are in great demand in the marketplace which is a part of UI frontend developer’s resume.

UX Designer Developer Portfolios

As we notice that a substantial increase in the user experience designer salary in recent years along with the UI front-end developers, which is driven by the excellent work performed by those professionals. A few important portfolios of UX and UI programmers are given below.

Friend Tracking App

This is a useful mobile app used for tracking the position of friends during winter sports, especially skiing. The main features include:

• iOS-based tracking app to trace the friend positions
• It tracks and navigates the slopes
• GPS tracking capability
• Supports multiple resorts
• Alarm sending features

Rejuvenation Cosmetics Website

This is one of the trendy and new concepts of website designing developed by UX designer developers at Mobilunity. The main features include:

• Customizable, modern and trendy design
• Support multi-languages and Geolocation features
• High quality animated web pages
• Simple and attractive inquiry forms
• Support social media streams
• 100% SEO friendly website

Healthcare Website

It is an innovative concept for healthcare websites. Highly featured and industry-specific capabilities include:

• Multiple modules for different therapies
• Use of WebRTC technology to create an online booking and video consultancy
• Suitable for multiple disciplines of healthcare such as dentistry, psychology and others
• Highly professional look to create a great user experience
• SEO friendly

Hotel Website Concept

This is a new website design created for the hotel business. It is powered by many features and capabilities such as:

• Easy to use and intuitive interface
• Support online booking system
• Equally good for mobile and desktop devices
• Powered by Google Maps and room preview pages
• Highly responsive design
• Minimalistic style with 100% SEO friendly features

Bubble Gum Landing Page

It is a landing page for a mobile app. It is a highly featured website. The main features of this website include:

• Very attractive and effective landing page for the mobile app
• Supports the feature of a connection point for creative people
• Powered by PHP programming languages and professional coders
• Innovative logo design and color
• Supports multiple services at one place
• SEO friendly and intuitive to use

Fix Mobile Usability App

This is a web application that helps the users to fix their website issues to work with mobile devices easily. The main features include:

• Highly responsive design for websites
• Attractive animation and cheerful blue color for great user experience
• Fully in compliance with the Google search engine guidelines
• Fascinating and intuitive interface

Samples of Frontend Developer vs UI Developer Resumes?

Let’s expand on the skills, qualifications and experience UI UX developer resume in the context of frontend UI developer and normal UI developer. This handy UX designer vs developer resume comparison will allow you to assess the skills of such experts and choose the right specialist for your project.

UI Frontend Developer Resume

The UI frontend developer resume looks like a mixture of UX designer resume and UI developer. The user experience salary is growing very fast due to the requirement of new skills as listed below.

Now, to compare front end developer vs UI designer, let’s take a look at UI developers resume example.

User Interface Developer Resume

The UI programmer should be an expert on the micro-level coding of the website. Thus, a user interface designer resume of a skilled specialist should include working knowledge and experience in creating user-friendly interfaces. Below, you can find a sample UI developer resume that will help you to orient in the field. The main skills and qualifications of a good UI coder resume should include:

As you can see, a UI developer resume example has less and more narrow-focused skills listed as must-have ones compared to that of a front end UI developer. For example, when assessing a UI designer resume, you won’t find scripting languages, web technologies, and analytic tools listed.

However, an expert UX programmer can build complex interfaces that will meet specific business needs, for instance, medical user interface development. A front-end web user interface designer usually has a broad range of knowledge but won’t be able to deliver such well-researched interfaces like UX designer. Therefore, before considering UI engineer vs front end engineer, be sure to determine the needs of your project to choose the right specialist.

Hire UI Developer vs UI Frontend Developer. Whom and Where to Choose One?

As discussed earlier, the demand for UI front-end developers is very high in the marketplace that pushes the senior UI UX designer salary to the new heights. The main reason to choose UI frontend developers is the skill sets they possess and the great user experience they produce for the end-users. It is always recommended to choose the professional-grade UI front end developers for your web development projects.

UI Engineer Vs Front End Developer Salary Rates In Different Countries

You can hire frontend user interface developer and UI developers via multiple ways, such as freelancing, local recruitment and IT staff augmentation. Freelancing is good for cost-saving, but this mode of recruitment has many other risk factors, similarly, local hiring is more desirable, but is very costly and legally complex. For example, the senior UX designer salary is over $100 thousand per annum in the US. Let’s compare user interface engineer salary rates in different countries:

• The US – $101,871
• Canada – C$88,057 ($64,114)
• Switzerland – 81,233 Fr. ($83,911)
• Germany – €56,214 ($61,967)
• Ukraine – $38,100

As can be seen from the stats above, even when hiring UI vs front end developer in one country or another, the cost estimation of front end UI developer salary differs significantly. This, in particular, incited companies to hire a front end expert or UI/UX designer for their development operations in another country.

As seen on Statista, the main reasons why businesses outsource their software development is a lack of local talents, cost efficiency, and better resource management. Also, companies positively note the increasing flexibility and ability to concentrate on core business tasks when outsourcing IT services, as well as high chances of getting innovative solutions, thanks to outsourcing IT experts.

However, one of the main concerns was to hire a UI designer that will dedicatedly work on the company’s project only. And that’s where hiring a remote dedicated UI engineer or front end developer comes as the most secure and useful option. Such an IT team extension allows expanding your team with a much-needed expert working remotely or relocated per your request. Alternatively, you can hire only one UX design vs front end developer that will handle your project timely and expertly if there’s enough work to be done for a single professional.

So, the best tradeoff between reliability and cost in finding front end UI web developer or user interface engineer is hirring from a dedicated dev team provider. You can hire UI developers or hire UI designer and get professional-grade Ukrainian service from the Mobilunity services at very affordable prices.

Mobilunity as a Solution to UI UX Designer vs Front End Developer Concerns

Mobilunity is one of the best-known vendor of dedicated hiring solutions for software, UX, and UI development not only in Ukraine and Western Europe but globally. For more than 14 years, we have been providing team extension services, helping companies to hire UI programmers, front-end developers, and other IT experts with the needed skills and experience. Here is why it is worth hiring UI developer or UI front-end designer with the help of Mobilunity:

• Access to a large pool of IT talents;
• Custom solutions for every project;
• Dedicated approach;
• Affordable cost;
• Convenient location in the middle of Europe;
• Adequate time zone difference for fruitful cooperation;
• Dozens of loyal and satisfied clients all over the world.

So, if you need a reliable UI developer vs frontend developer, we at Mobilunity will be pleased to pick the best experts for your company’s needs and provide you with required programmers within the shortest time possible.

Contact us now for hiring qualified UI front-end developers and UI designer for creating great mobile apps!

Written by:

Anastasia Stefanuk

Market Researcher

Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.