Give your views and share your experiences with us.
software development has such a huge range in earning potential that this question can’t be easily answered
location factors and cost of living factors also have to be factored in
Back-end developers typically make more than front-end but it doesn’t really matter which one you do
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It depends on a million factors. Do what you prefer.
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Try each one out and get back to us. It’s all based on which you prefer. Having full stack / both stack experience will make you a more knowledgeable developer. Say you’re either one and your company loses their other developer who is trained well in the other side of the stack. Will your specialization prevent you from being able to jump in and take over the missing pieces? Look, the reason noone has really answered this question or perhaps its unanswerable, is that you have staged the question from a perspective that is not easily answerable. I’ve seen a lot of people choose one side and then realize they want to give the other side a shot. And each organization and workplace environment is different, so there are many “balance” factors there as well.
So the real question I will bounce back to you is, what path do YOU want to take on? it’s a journey, #1, and everyone’s journey is different. #2, Take a step back and look from a technical perspective - and say “what do I want to be able to build and do as a developer/software engineer”? What are the skills that I need to make that possible?
If you’re in it plain out for the money and work life balance, it will be a really long hard road.
The answer to the question you haven’t asked is that once you’ve survived perhaps 3-4 years as a developer, you will probably already be making more than enough money to be comfortable (If you’re in the US that is… other countries I cannot speak for.), and then you’ll want to ask yourself if you want to keep going as a developer or take on other project/product management related roles, or if you would rather be a manager who is the business defender of said developers, or … the list goes on and on.
So just give it all you’ve got to try finding a job you want, play full out for a full years, and then see if that is the question that you’re still curious about.
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I don’t think doing front-end or back-end has a direct correlation with work-life balance.
Financially back-end developers probably have more potential financially due to the fact “everything” is back-end, unless your working on HTML/CSS building websites/webapps.
There are tons upon tons of other details that matter more when it comes to being financially stable and work-life balance than just the “area” of what your working on.
Thanks for your thorough reply, I’ve got it solved.
Yep, it depends on tons of reasons and I’ve understood it. I’ll do what I’ve love for and can balance with my school studies.
Thanks. 
Thank you brother I’ll consider your thoughts as well.
Thanks man for your answer!!
I focused entirely on backend just to get into the field but ultimately You will need to be Full Stack Developer in the next 5-10 years as most companies are wanting you to do both.
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@davidmcook01
I think that it’s correct to ask that an employee knows how both front and back-end work in general terms.
But I do hate when companies expect you to be an expert in both fields and want you to do the job of both figures by paying only one salary.
Right but from a business standpoint they are always looking at ways to cut costs, and it’s much more efficient to have small agile teams of FULL stack developers.
So that is the future. Sucks, especially when you’ve been a backend for 10 years or whatever and you don’t get the job because of your lack of front end.
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Yes, the sad truth about some companies is this only while others want experts in either of the field.