I’ve been working as a frontend developer for about 2 years now at a small company. This was my first job out of college. Our team has several junior frontend developers and one senior backend developer with around 10 years of experience.
Besides coding the UI, we handle client meetings, gather requirements, test API endpoints, coordinate with QA teams, and manage various other tasks. Meanwhile, our backend colleague expects us to explain all documentation to her, relies on us for API testing instead of using tools like Postman, skips most team meetings, and has limited knowledge of version control or containerization tools. She primarily focuses on writing code.
Whenever issues appear in our staging or production environment, our frontend team gets blamed regardless of where the problem originates. Even backend errors that show up in the interface somehow become our responsibility.
Since this is my first company, I’m wondering if this workload distribution is normal. What does the frontend and backend division of responsibilities look like at your workplace?
nah, that’s def not normal. your senior backend dev sounds lazy - why should you handle api testing and write their docs? that’s backwards. at my company, frontend focuses on ui/ux while backend handles their own testing and documentation. you’re gettin taken advantage of.
This workload setup is weird and totally unfair. Most places expect backend devs to handle their own API testing, docs, and debugging. A senior dev with 10 years of experience shouldn’t need junior frontend devs to test their APIs - that screams skill gaps or laziness. You’re supposed to focus on UI, UX, and frontend integrations. Sure, some collaboration is normal, but you shouldn’t be doing backend work or getting blamed for their bugs. The fact they skip meetings and barely know version control? Huge red flags. You’re headed straight for burnout while missing out on actually learning frontend skills. I’d document exactly what you’re doing versus what you should be doing, then talk to management. This isn’t sustainable and it’s killing your career growth.
that sounds really frustrating! have you thought about having a chat with your team about the workload? maybe there’s a way to clarify the roles better. it’s odd for frontend to handle so much, huh? would love to hear how it goes!