Too true. These days front-end developers are expected to know frameworks and a plethora of lanauges which to me signals a company is trying to get not only a front-end developer but also is trying to get someone proficient in Rails or whatever language without paying more. "Oh, knowing Rails is a plus for this position" translates to, "We are going to pay you a $60k a year salary for a front-end position and get you to do the tasks of a Rails developer as well of which we pay $90k a year to" the line has been blurred you're either mostly front-end with a little knowledge of back-end and web apps like Wordpress and whatnot or you're backend with a little knowledge of front-end.

The wanky interview questions always make me laugh. Developers at their core are hackers, they know bits and pieces but not everything. A great developer doesn't know everything but knows what to type into Google when they need a solution to a problem. Collectively all of these tidbits create a cross-network of information developers share with one another. The questions that assume you are some all seeing, all knowing developer are a farce and you probably don't want to work at a place like that anyway.

The type of questions I would love to see being asked in front-end developer positions would be:

* What's the difference between display: inline-block and float: left?

* What is the default browser behaviour in a modern web browser when applying a padding left or right to an element with 100% with?

* How would you add a class to an element with the ID of, "content" via jQuery?

* Name two CSS browser vendor prefixes

* What is the difference between responsive design and adaptive design (bonus points for describing how and why one is easier and or harder than the other)?

* Which of these is not a valid CSS unit of measurement? px, pm, em, rem, %

* What is the difference between position: absolute and position: fixed?

These are questions good developers should know the answer too without Googling, they're not solutions they're somewhat basic things a front-end developer should know off of the top of his head.

Not:

* What are some of your favourite tech blogs to read?

* Can you please write a for loop that increments a counter?

* What web browser do you use?

* Can you recall a particular time when you found yourself solving a complex problem?

It's a tough economy and companies are always trying to get something extra for nothing. I've always had an issue with companies hiring so-called, designer/developers when we all know a true designer or developer doesn't fragment their time learning two crafts. You either become a great developer or a great designer not a mediocre hybrid who lacks full-understanding of each craft because you're too busy going back and forth with crafts.