How to become a front-end professional?

Question

Freelance

Good day to all!
I've been a web developer for about 6 years. I know many technologies in this area at an intermediate level: PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc. You can say FullStack developer, I can completely lead the project from the idea stage to production "in one helmet". At the beginning of this year, NodeWebkit, Node.js, AngularJS, LESS, Jade and other related tools such as package managers (npm, bower) and application builders (grunt, gulp) began to work hard.
Recently I thought about the fact that there are already too many technologies and it is not possible to become a professional in all of them, so you need to delve into one direction. The clean backend somehow doesn’t attract me much, but the frontend is to my liking. How popular are pure front-end developers in the market right now?
Well, actually, to the main question: what resources and materials would you recommend for pulling up your skills to the level of a front-end professional?
UPD. Interested in being in demand in the foreign market, because I plan to start working there in the near future.

Answer 1

So, I thought about it and this is what I came up with.
In a field that is interesting, the chances of success are much higher. Professionals are always in demand and well paid, regardless of the field of activity. And for those who think that frontend is PSD to HTML, jquery, etc., I will say that layout is just the tip of the iceberg.
Now web applications are approaching the functionality of the desktop, and the frontend has a great merit in this. That's the ability to develop such applications with high quality and you need to strive for a frontend developer who wants to become a professional, which is exactly what I'm going to do.
UPD: I found a good list of what a frontend developer needs to know.

Answer 2

Professional front-end developers are in great demand and salaries are not lower! The direction "engineer of productivity" (on the client) also develops.
But it must be emphasized that this is a specialist. It has nothing to do with layout. Best of all, if this is a generalist who has concentrated on the front-end lately, that is, a person with extensive development experience. A deep knowledge of javascript as a language, and nativeJS, an understanding of how browsers work in detail, then frameworks (Angular, React, Backbone, etc.), an understanding of the intricacies of performance are required. Ability to program (algorithms, architecture, etc.) regardless of the language.
The fact that fewer front-end developers are being hired because of Bootstrap is one of the fairly simple parts of the front-end. Everything that needs quality and performance, complex functionality, visualizations, HTML5 api, geolocation, etc. remains - and there the demand is only increasing. Maybe the number of vacancies is getting smaller, but the demand for top specialists is increasing.
In Russia, the processes are a little late, but about the same.

Answer 3

Frontends don't make decent money. It is better to be backend in several areas and look for a well-paid job.
And then there will be no "big" money if you do little work and do what is simpler.

Answer 4

I know a Creative Director in Germany, in the past he was engaged in front-end, then he changed the field. I recently talked to him, he says that in Europe, with the advent of automated platforms in the world (Bootstrap, Squarespace), fewer and fewer people are hiring specialists. That is, according to him, the frontend goes lower and lower..

Answer 5

The front end has a lot of troubles, a lot of browser nuances, it’s impossible to know all of them, but after a while there is an understanding of what could be the reason and you can quickly solve the problem in this direction. I think it was not in vain that at the end of 2009 I chose this area, but it turned out by accident. I could have been a (backend) PHP developer, but I became a front-end developer. I'm glad I'm doing the client side. It is interesting. It seems to me that the main thing here is to balance, if there is a lot of layout, then you start to somehow depress. In general, I think that layout is a women's job that requires monotony and perseverance. Compare with drawing. Even though I can't do it myself. But if you make, for example, a single-page application, it's really interesting there. In general, the layout is probably 10% of the frontend imho) if not less. You need to know a lot you need to be able to program, understand cycles, optimization, inner_loops, etc. In terms of salary, I think now front-end developers get even more than back-end developers.