Confused between what a front-end developer does and what a back-end developer does? Here is a guide that tells you the skills you need for both.
Let’s break down the main differences and compare similarities between a career in front-end development and a career in back-end development.
Just in case you don’t already know, the main difference between front-end and back-end developers is what parts of the site or application they work on.
Front-end
Front-end developers create and maintain the parts of websites that users see – so the user interface (UI) and the user experience (UX). They make sure that the website the user interacts with is easy to use, nice to look at and actually works. Sometimes, front-end developers are referred to as ‘client-side developers’ for that reason.
To be a front-end developer, you will need software engineering, coding and some interaction and UI design knowledge. They need to be very proficient in using JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), web APIs and Document Object Model (DOM).
Of course, that’s only a brief snapshot of the skills front-end devs need; the skillset is constantly evolving over time, too. Other skills you might want to learn as a front-end developer include: cross-browser and platform testing, wireframing, mobile web performance, accessibility, unit testing, frameworks, content management systems (CMS), search engine optimisation (SEO), web front embedding, task runners, application architecture, version control and web and browser security.
Back-end
Back-end developers are kind of like the puppet masters. They’re responsible for the behind the scenes stuff that happens on a website – for example, what happens when a user clicks a button. All of that has to be set up by someone in the back-end of the website just as the front-end or client side has to be maintained.
Back-end developers are not as concerned with aesthetics as front-end developers; they are more conscious of things like data storage, security and debugging. They are on the ‘server-side’ as opposed to the client-side.
To work in back-end development, you’ll need to be very sharp and quick with decent problem-solving skills. It can be frustrating figuring out various problems with websites, and back-end devs need cool heads.
Technical skills for back-end developers include programming languages such as Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, PHP and Java. They also need to know frameworks, including Laravel, Django, Ruby on Rails and Node.js, while databases and servers are must-knows too.
Full-stack
Seeing as both front-end and back-end developers work with frameworks and programming languages – albeit on different sides of the pond, so to speak, you might wonder if there is an ingenious way to somehow be both.
Well, you can. Full-stack development incorporates both the front-end and the back-end. It can be good to have full-stack knowledge because the front-end and back-end teams don’t work in silos, after all. They need to cooperate with each other to ensure the end result functions well.
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