What is Backend Development? Skills, Salary,Jobs & Roles

Backend Software Developer

The web development sector is primarily divided into two different parts which are the front end and the backend application development. The front-end development is all about what the end-user user sees into the screen in terms of the visual elements and the page designs. Where the backend part is all about the business logic that makes things happen to the front end.

In this article, we will discuss more about the skills required to become a backend developer.

What is Backend Development?

Backend application development is also known as server-side programming or the development. It is the thing that the users don’t see directly or interact with and contains the activities which are happening at the back of the door that occurs when the user performing any type of action on a particular website or webpage. It primarily focuses on a few things such as database management, backend business logic building, API implementation, and servers.

The backend side of an application is a combination of the specific servers, backend centric applications, and single or the collection databases at a time. The codebase created by the backend developers/engineers helps the frontend layer of the application for communicating with the databases and storing data into the database accordingly, reading data from the database periodically, updating the existing data, and deleting the unused data or information from the database completely.

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Who is Backend Developer?

A backend developer is primarily responsible for using any of the programming languages to create the codebase and that application actually makes a web application functions the way that the desired goal for creating the application can be fulfilled.

The code or the programs that these backend developers create would run on the webserver flawlessly. In addition to writing the backend programs via instructions, the developers are also responsible for developing various APIs used by the frontend version of such web applications so that the frontend can send the requested data and backend application process it and sends the required output according to the instructions.

Backend Developer Skills

Backend developers are in tremendously high demand across the globe and many tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and others are ready to onboard them into their team and they’re being paid generously at the same time. And if someone is new to the field and wants to learn about the backend application development, it can be difficult somehow to know the right path to get started with the learning.

A successful career in the field of backend development requires an extensive knowledge of coding languages, certain algorithm mechanisms, and a wide variety of programming hand-hold tools. It is not necessary that every backend application developer’s career will require the same experience and the knowledge of certain skills, but there are some primary skills as a backend developer you should have at least for possessing the desired role.

The backend developers should have a knowledge of any of the programming languages and some of the popular programming languages are given below.

1.)  PHP

PHP known as Hypertext Pre-processor is purely an open-source and one of the most popular & old age backend scripting languages used to create the dynamic backend application. Primarily the PHP was first released in 1995 and is one of the first languages that have all the ability to build dynamic websites with the bare minimum setup and configuration unlike other programming or the scripting languages.

PHP gained huge popularity and at present empowers many of the applications built on it as it was the primary choice and no other easiest scripting language available another reason is that the PHP was used extensively for creating an application for both frontend and backend applications at the same time.

2.) Python

Python needs no introduction, the reason is being python is one of the premier and most powerful languages used in the backend development. And after it is being selected as a primary backend programming platform, it is also known as the “fastest-growing major programming language” in the world.

The language gains popularity is much appreciated as discussed above and the reason is that it handles simple and complex web projects with an ease and it can be deployed across a variety of platforms and domains such as healthcare to e-commerce to finance to travel and whatnot. Many tech giant industry giants such as Google, Amazon have all built their applications using Python codebase and features.

3.) Java

Java programming language is primarily invented and is known for the backend application development. It is a more robust system, the Java is typically written in an Integrated Development Environment before being compiled in bytecode, or the low-level code that can be captured by the software/application interpreter, rather than the human as a developer.

Java is a completely portable, high-performance centric programming language used specifically for object-oriented programming (OOPS). The reason being its popularity is its syntax yet highly scalable extensively.

4.) Dot net (.NET)

The .NET is a web framework that is used to build the websites/web application using multiple choices of languages such as C#, VB (Visual Basics), and others. Primarily the .NET framework was first developed by Microsoft to cater the best web experience over Oracle’s Java programming language.

.NET mainly follows an architecture which is called MVC (Model View Controller) based architectural pattern that gained huge popularity over the years. It is a kind of software development pattern that allows features to be handled by a controller which is a central unit for the business logic that directly interacts with a model to process data.

5.)  Ruby

Ruby is a new age programming language and it is accompanied by Rails it is a completely open-source, dynamic, and high-level programming language, or even we can say that it is a full-stack framework in nutshell.

The coding with Ruby allows the developers to create the robust back-end applications quickly without writing the hefty lines of code, unlike other programming languages. Ruby is primarily similar to the Python language because it is quite useful for the quick prototyping

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Backend Developer Salary

Since the back-end developers are involved in a more a technically complex yet challenging role, they can expect an average salary higher than the other roles such as front-end developers. According to the report of the pay scale, the average market salary of a back-end developer is $87K, whereas the average salary of a Frontend Developer is $76K according to the latest job trends.

Though the back-end developers earn more on average provided the multiple factors such as experience, location, etc, above mentioned salaries heavily depend on the set of skills that a developer may have possesses and both can earn equally at the higher levels accordingly.

As discussed, based on the US market trend, the avg back-end developer having 2-6 years of experience may get an $87-100k salary, and below is the job trend according to the salary.

(Source: Payscale)

In India, the avg salary of the back-end developers having 1-3 years of experience is INR 5 LPA as given below salary breakdown.

(Source: Payscale)

The salary scale may charge differently based on the type of the job, location, job categories, skill set of the developer, organization requirement, and so on.

Backend Developer Jobs

If we look closely at the current market trends, there are no such alternatives for the backend developers and the backend application development. So eventually the future of the enthusiast and skillful backend developers will have a very fruitful professional career for such developers. And in this era of frequently growing web and mobile markets, almost every business is required to have an online presence and put an impact on their upcoming customers digitally, and for that, they require backend application development and the developers for their websites.

Although many clients around the globe are not aware of the difference between backend and frontend application necessity still, the growing market of the digital world may not survive without backend developers.

Based on the online public data, more than 20K job has been listed in the Indeed portal, LinkedIn is having 18K+ job openings listed for the back end roles, whereas Naukri.com is having 1.15 Lacks active job listed so far based on the different level of experience, location, and the technology, thus we can say that the back end developer will have a huge ground to grab the job.

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Backend Developer Roles and Responsibilities

Being a backend developer, the primary duty of the developer is to set up the required settings for the application, connect with the databases, create, test, and deploy various APIs, communicate with the front-end developer and other teams, performance optimizations, etc.

Below are some of the roles and responsibilities that need to be fulfilled by the backend developers.

• Setup of the core application, architect robust codebase, and increase accessibilities
• Writing reusable codebase and maintaining the internal/external libraries for future implementation
• To build the architecture of the system while keeping in mind other aspects such as app scalability, stability, and the API speed
• Continuous coordination with frontend developers and develop server-side APIs efficiently to be integrated with the front end layer
• End to end application development, maintenance, debug, test, and optimize the existing application
• To implement the best security instructions and followed best practices
• Configure the application in a manner to cate large customer base
• Work closely with the database management for storing data in an efficient way and standards
• Works closely with the client, stakeholders, and managers to sync up with the features of the application
• Maintaining old applications and their gradual updates periodically, training juniors for upgrading the systems

As soon as you start working on the backend application, the roles and responsibilities may defer, and get a chance to work on the real-time issues to cater to the best possible data management across the applications.

What is the difference between frontend and backend development?

The front-end developers work on the view layer of the web application whereas the back-end developer works on the server-side of a website or an application. Both of the layers are like the two sides of the same coin. Though both front end and back end layers are much crucial for the web development cycle as they are dependent on each other and combined create the working & seamless user experience for the end-users.

The front and the back end development may differ sometimes by their individual roles, various responsibilities, and the surroundings or environments they work in. The front end part of the application is simply what the end-users see and interact directly whereas the back end is how everything is working behind or along the front end parallel.

Summary

The role of backend developers in this software industry is an essential part of web development. They are mostly responsible for all the key responsibilities and ensure the development of the application and up to the deployment to the server while having the quality products at a time. That is the reason why more and more enthusiast backend developers are opting for this career for certain opportunities.

Such backend developers should have a passion for hard-core coding and possess all the essential skills and the knowledge to become great developers. Based on the market structure, backend developers are highly paid appreciated amongst others and will surely add value to the life of developers and organizations.