Now let's discuss front end development.
Front end developers on Upwork charge anywhere between $15 an hour to $35 per hour on average.
Front end web development is the development of the graphical user interface of a website through the
use of HTML, CSS and JavaScript so that users can view and interact with that website.
So that's what the front end of the website consists of.
One of the first factors is your project scope.
So is the client's intention simply to engage with someone and to have them set up a quick landing page
to gather email subscriptions for an eventual product launch?
Or is the client looking for something more long term?
Maybe they need a freelancer and someone to help them build the client side of the website from the
ground up with an emphasis on performance, scalability and maintenance.
Of course, the cost will vary from one end of the spectrum to the other.
This is especially true for front end development or web development services in general, where the
top level decisions such as whether or not your plan is to monetize an existing WordPress blog or develop
a dynamic single page application from scratch.
Of course, this will all ultimately determine which technologies the front end developer will have
to use to accomplish that goal.
Now let's go over the different types of front end developers and how much they charge on average,
as well as a quick description of what they do.
The first is basic front end.
Those are freelancers who have fundamentals in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, and they often charge an
average hourly rate of around $15 per hour.
The next type is intermediate to advance front end developers, and these are freelancers who go beyond
the fundamentals and are skilled in one or more of a chosen framework.
These type of freelancers typically charge an average hourly rate of $35 per hour.
And lastly, you have full stack developers which actually combine a mix of front end and back end technology
expertise.
These type of freelancers typically charge an average hourly rate of $55 plus per hour.
Another cost factor, in addition to the scope of work, is the experience level as well as the expertise
of you as the front end developer.
So the more experienced you are as a programmer and the more different projects that you've already
completed that are similar to what the client needs, the higher the rate you can charge.
However, it's still does relate to the complexity of the project.
If it's a very simple one page website, even if you are extremely experienced, you're only going to
be able to charge the high end of the spectrum there.
On the other hand, if a client wishes to have a fully customizable website, then that's when you can
charge even more because the cost will be worth it to them when they consider what they are going to
be getting in return.
So the more complex a project is and the more experience you have delivering that, that is when you
are going to be able to charge the highest rate for your services, because the more experience you
have, the more the client knows you'll be able to handle any problems that come up, any bugs that
appear before you go to launch the website.
And the more confident they will be that you will be able to achieve their goals and launch the website
exactly how they want it.
Sometimes it can be very cost effective to become a unicorn.
Those rare front end developers who also double as UI or UX designers.
So that's user interface and user experience designers.
That way you can help them carry out small size projects from wire framing and storyboarding through
development, testing and production.
So becoming a unicorn is when you are able to provide multiple skills, so the client doesn't need to
hire multiple freelancers to achieve their goal.
They're actually able to hire fewer freelancers, fewer unicorn freelancers, because they have multiple
different skills.
And of course you are able to charge more for that.
So that is something you should always be looking at doing, is combining different skills that are
similar to what you already know and that can help raise the market price that you can charge.
To summarize, front end developers charge a median hourly rate of anywhere between 15 to $35 per hour
on average.
They also have a top hourly rate range of $150 plus.
The demand is high while the competition is medium to high.
I'll see you in the next lesson.