How to Start a Career in Back-End Development: Tips and Tricks

Web development comprises two critical parts – front-end and back-end. While front-end development handles the visible and interactive aspects of a website, the back-end is responsible for the functionality behind the scenes. Though most website users may not be interested in the intricacies of website construction, the role of a back-end web developer cannot be overemphasized.

Back-end programming determines how well a website serves its users. As such, it is crucial to create an efficient website architecture, scripting, and designing code that connects the website’s database to the visitor’s browser. In essence, a back-end developer ensures that the website functions optimally and delivers a seamless user experience.

Training and Certifications Required

Here’s a breakdown of the steps for starting a career in back-end development, along with the required training and certifications:

Obtain a University Degree: While it’s not mandatory, many employers prefer to hire back-end developers with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. However, if you lack a degree, there are other options available. For instance, you can attend a boot camp or obtain other certifications. This will demonstrate your knowledge and proficiency in back-end development.
Learn a Programming Language: To be a back-end developer, you must have an understanding of programming languages. Widely used programming languages include C, C++, Java, and others. You should pick one of these languages and learn the details, stages, and techniques of it. Start with one language, focus on skill development and practice. The more programming languages you know, the better.
Learn New Skills: Besides programming languages, there are other skills that you can acquire to improve your attractiveness as a candidate. Research job postings for back-end developers to determine the skills that companies value most and focus on developing them. Formal education may not cover all the skills you need, so you might have to do extra work to acquire them.
Understand Website Hosting: Depending on the project, you may have little say in where the website you’re building is hosted. However, it’s still beneficial to understand the different hosting options, especially if you hope to work on a project from the beginning or be a startup developer. There are two primary hosting options, managed hosting servers and cloud hosting providers. Managed hosting servers typically have a more user-friendly interface for those who are less technically proficient, while cloud hosting providers are usually more suitable for those with development skills.
Use Frameworks: Frameworks are a powerful tool for back-end developers because they allow them to construct templates and other programs that can be reused. Django, Express, and Ruby-on-Rails are some of the popular frameworks available. Understanding frameworks, especially those related to the programming languages you’re familiar with, can demonstrate your awareness of ways to streamline the development process to potential employers.

Tips for Succeeding in a Back-end Development Career

Try Something New and Innovative

In all fields, including the tech industry, creativity and originality are highly valued as they can have the power to transform the entire playing field. If you have a business or project concept, that’s great. If not, take some time to think about and work on new ideas.

Create a Starter Clone

Copying commercially available products to learn how they work is called creating a starter clone. This is a great way to get started and learn from existing examples. There are many helpful websites and applications to choose from.

Practice

The best way to learn is by doing. To practice your skills, start working on small assignments or projects such as a to-do list, a simple blog, a web-based picture gallery, a CV generator, or a simple project management software. This will help you gain experience and build confidence in your abilities.

Back-End Developer Salary: What You Need to Know

If you’re considering a career in back-end development, one of the most important things to consider is the potential salary. On average, a back-end developer can expect to earn $81,161 per year. However, as you gain more experience and skills, your earning potential will increase.

According to industry data, a back-end developer with no experience can expect to earn an average of $61,042 per year. However, those with five to nine years of experience can earn around $95,000 per year. If you’re able to attain the title of “Senior Back-end Developer,” you can expect an average annual salary of $113,687.

Conclusion

When starting a career in Back-end development, there are three main problems to solve: serving data to the front end (the api app), persisting data (database), and running these things (server). It is advisable to bundle the first two together and find a service that solves the third while learning. For example, Rails, a Ruby database abstraction called ActiveRecord, solves point 1, leaving only point 2 to solve by building the app. Then, something like Heroku, which is turnkey deployment, can solve point 3. It’s useful to understand how all three problems are being solved, and once a developer is familiar with the process, they can find ways to skip some steps depending on the needs of the project.