To the average client who makes use of software solutions, front-end engineers are more popular and more useful because they create the parts of the software that the client interacts with. When the average individual thinks software engineer they're mostly thinking about either the UI/UX designer or the front-end engineer.

Within the industry of tech however, front-end engineers don't usually sit on top of the food chain, backend engineers command a lot of respect though their work isn't shiny or presentable, you can't see their work, you shouldn't see their work unless you're signing up for a migraine. The barrier to entry for front-end engineers and UI/UX designers is quite low compared to backend engineering and this banter is quite popular within the industry as backend engineers consider themselves as the real engineers.

To be fair to frontend engineers we must concede that their work is rather difficult, styling and creating amazing interfaces isn't as easy as it looks. Backend engineers also have a good point because unlike frontend engineers, backends engineers can't easy see where their code has issues because they're dealing with abstract concepts. Frontend development has incorporated a lot of new advanced concepts which have increased its level of difficulty as such, to an extent mastering frontend is just as hard as some backend languages.