TECHNOLOGY

The Complete Back end Developer road map for 2022

Back end Development is one of the raging tech jobs in 2022. This is because Back end Developers take care of the “backbone” of web applications – the Back-end – which includes stuff like servers, APIs, and databases. They troubleshoot and fix bugs in software, update its architecture, and manage hosting environments. It should be clear why they’re such a big deal from this information alone.

Because of its massive popularity, it’s also a rapidly growing field, with an 8% growth expected in the next decade. According to Glassdoor, the average Back end Developer salary is $79K per year! More experienced Back end Developers earn in six digits however – a Senior Back end Developer can earn up to $113K. Perhaps it’s for this reason that the profession’s career satisfaction is quite high! It’s an interesting job with high-yield results!

Also, learn about the road map for front end developer.

If this has grabbed your attention, well, down below we’ve got a rough step-by-step roadmap you can follow to advance your career as a Back end Developer:

Table Of Content

Step 1: Understand the Internet and Web Servers
Step 2: Frameworks and Coding
Step 3: Version Control Systems
Step 4: Figure out APIs (Application Programming Interface)
Step 5: Do lots and lots of research
Step 6: Learn about testing
Step 7: Deployment
Step 8: Build a portfolio
Conclusion!

Step 1: Understand the Internet and Web Servers

Well, this is a given if you wish to do any sort of web development! The concept of web servers and the internet is crucial for Back end Developers.

Web servers basically “run” websites. It stores data about them, processes them, and returns the desired webpage. You must be familiar with “HTTP” written within the URL of a website – an HTTP server contains components that understand those URLs and the HTTP. In more straightforward terms, a user “requests” a website from the HTTP server, which then processes it and “returns” the desired website through HTTP.

An example of servers would be NGINX and Apache, which are both open-source.

You must be very familiar with how the web works when you want to be a Back end Developer. Try to introduce yourself to topics like DNS, domains, cookies, hosting, etc.

Some courses and articles you can look into are HTTP and Web Servers by Udacity, Web Fundamentals by CloudAcademy, How the Internet Works & the Web Development Process by Udemy, and The Introduction to the Internet of Things and Embedded Systems.

Step 2: Frameworks and Coding

This is the step that people look most forward to! This might also be the most tedious of all steps… You’ll have to find programming languages that benefit you the most as a Back end Developer, as there is a vast variety! This is important as the programs you make would become the backbone of the webpage. While your program, you’ll come across Frameworks, which are libraries of pre-written programs so that you don’t have to waste necessary development time.

The most useful programming languages and frameworks used by Back end Developers are:

Step 3: Version Control Systems

Version Control Systems are a godsend for programmers! These are also often called Source Control Systems. They help by maintaining and tracking changes made to a program. This goes as far as to track who made what change, thus allowing for collaboration, and allowing programmers to revert to their previous mistakes. It also makes large and small projects especially easy as everything is stored within a repository.

One of the most popular Versions Control Systems is Git, used with GitHub. It’s free and extremely popular due to its accessibility. Some useful courses to learn more about Git and GitHub are Introduction to Git and GitHub by Coursera, Learn Git and GitHub by Codecademy, and Git Started with GitHub by Udemy.

Step 4: Figure out APIs (Application Programming Interface)

You can’t be a good Back end Developer without being super knowledgeable about API. These are a type of software interface utilized to make several computers communicate with each other. Some traveling booking sites use APIs to gather information from various hotels or airports for their processes.

Back end developers use these APIs to create a much better user experience, and sometimes replace even more complicated programming to let data transfer and software communication. You can learn more by following the Understanding APIs and RESTful APIs Crash Course by Udemy course and reading Introduction to Web APIs by Mdn Web Docs.

Step 5: Do lots and lots of research

Backend Development is a lot more complex when you compare it to Frontend Development. Back end Developers need to be well-versed in many different concepts from things like databases and cloud storage to many Front-end concepts.

You need to keep an eye out for concepts such as Middleware, and Relational Databases, and learn programming languages such as SQL and NoSQL. These are quite a necessity when you’re responsible for building the foundation of a web application! Back end Developers also have to keep an eye out for the latest updates on the field as well, so that they don’t miss any important and/or useful expansions.

It’s never wrong to enroll in some Back end Developer courses to get a better understanding of what to learn.

Step 6: Learn about testing

This is quite self-explanatory! Back end Developers use these methods to test the server sides and database sides of the Backend. Errors and bugs are found so that there aren’t any issues during the deployment phase (discussed later). This is because if there are any errors on the server side, the process won’t follow through, rendering a lot of the code useless, or problems like data loss or deadlock.

There are several different types of testing, such as Structured Testing and Functional Testing. Some steps are also followed during testing, to ensure no mistakes are made. It’s incredibly important to practice testing if you want to be a Back end Developer. You can read this GeeksForGeeks article to learn more.

Step 7: Deployment

Deployment is the phase when Back end Developers officially “post” their masterpiece into the internet. This is a skill used both in the Frontend and the Backend! Once a website is completed, it’s deployed onto the internet so that clients can “request” for them and see the wonderful work of art you’ve made! But to deploy websites, you must learn quite a lot about hosting tools. Two popular hosting tools are Jenkins, AWS CodeDeploy, and TeamCity.

Step 8: Build a portfolio

Once you’ve gotten in enough practice, try programming your perfect websites to show to potential clients and hiring managers. The role of a Back end Developer is very demanding, and thus hiring managers would want the best of the best to build their websites! You would want to build your website full of samples of your work, experiences, testimonies, and your overall resume. Such things raise credibility and visibility when you step into the job market! So be sure to put extra effort into building a perfect portfolio!

Conclusion!

Now that you’ve understood the important things to keep an eye out for while learning Back end Development, it’s time to get to work! As you may have realized, becoming a Back end Developer isn’t an easy task. You need a long time to fully master your skills – but for a good cost. It’s definitely worth developing these sets of skills, and you don’t need any formal education to be able to do this. Just set everything to your own pace, and learn with discipline.

Also, learn about the road map for front end developer.