Back End Developer: Here’s What You Should Know!

Websites are everywhere in our lives—from online shopping, entertainment, to social media—but did you ever wonder what goes on behind the scenes? If a site loads in less than half the time it used to, do you ever wonder how it works? It's all down to the magic of back end developers. 

Not sure what a back end developer is? Without further ado, let's find out!

What is a Back End Developer?

Unlike front end developers, who focus primarily on the visual elements of a website or application, a back end developer is responsible for creating and managing all of the components that make up the 'back end,' or hidden portions of an application.

The back end contains all of the behind-the-scenes activities that occur when performing any action on a website, including all of the functionality that happens on the 'server side'. It makes use of the three main components of web development: the server, application, and database.

• Server represents a computer or program that provides services to other computers or programs in the same network
• Application is software that runs on a device and uses the information provided by the server to display information on a screen
• Database is a collection of organized data stored in one location. It can be either structured (organized into rows and columns) or unstructured (freely associated).

A back end developer is responsible for creating and maintaining the code, which helps browsers communicate with information stored in databases. 

Here's a little scenario. Let's say you're shopping online for a shirt and decide to purchase it. You enter in all of your information including your credit card number, the size of the shirt, and then you hit the 'submit' button. Furthermore, the front end of that website, the part you can see and interact with, sends your information to the back end where it gets stored in the server's database. 

The back end is responsible for storing all of the information in a database. It's also responsible for making sure that when you go back to visit that same website in a week's time, all of that information is still there for you.

Job outlook for a back end developer

According to Payscale, the average salary for back end developers in the United States is about $87,000. The salary ranges from $54,000 to $131,000, depending on experience, skillset, and location.

Careers in back end development 

Here are some common back end developer job titles:

• Back end engineer
• SQL developer 
• Software development engineer
• Software architect

Depending on the job, your duties as a back end developer may include:

• Building and maintaining web applications
• Managing and creating functional APIs resources 
• Implementing and writing code to solve system-related problems 
• Creating testable, well-designed, and efficient code
• Building frameworks and managing hosting environments 
• Analyzing data, processes, and codes

It's no secret that in this digital age, back end development is an emerging field. With so many opportunities and technological advancement, it can be challenging to keep up. Hence it's important to learn new programming languages and coding techniques, apart from using well-known frameworks.

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