The quiet, pervasive devaluation of frontend

Nothing but stone cold facts here.

Design itself is typically conflated with frontend, and design has long been colored as a “feminine” pursuit. The deep technical challenges of frontend functionality are often mistakenly regarded more as a sort of painting with pixels; making things look right, rather than work correctly.

Incidentally, folks involved in UI and design tend to be hit harder in layoffs than their peers, who are perceived as “more technical.” Women, too, are often laid off in greater numbers than men. So it’s hard not to see frontend devaluation and sexism as intertwined. (If they’re even separate things at all, that is.)