Frontend vs Backend, which do you prefer and why?

I am a backend girl because I love optimizing code performance and dealing with data. How about you? What draws you to a particular section of the stack?

Comments

[Sarah Katz]

I'm a frontend person because I like to see my work - former artist/graphic designer here, so I'm definitely a visual person and frontend appeals to that.

But I like backend sometimes too, because it's cool to be actually working on the things that make the frontend run well.

So ... full stack?

[Lee Jarvis]

I think I prefer backend so I don’t see my work 😅

[jesús gollonet]

Ex creative-coder turned into passionate backender. I've followed a strange path from flash to interactive installations to web frontend to backend / ops. When I started programming I didn't understand how someone could be coding without the output being visual. And now I'm at my happiest when I don't need to even open a browser.

[Molly Struve (she/her)]

YES! I have never been a very visual person. Some people can look at a webpage and lay all the pieces down, I struggle so much with that so the backend came easier to me. Also when I started I felt like the logic flow of the backend and Ruby was easy for me to understand than the frontend.

[Amit Patel]

I am backend developer for about 12 years. I love it so much. Thanks to Ruby which keeps me happy all the time.

I am amazed by front end designs and SPA. I keep on collecting great designs and clever CSS hacks but I use them for reference to get it done from frontend designers and developers.

[Molly Struve (she/her)]

Copy/Paste frontend snippets FTW!!!

I often refer to frontend people as Wizards, bc I literally feel like they wave their hands and beautiful things suddenly appear on the page. SO much respect for that ability!

[Tori Crawford]

THIS! It blows my mind what people can do with CSS.

[Peter Ringelmann]

Front-end! I tried back-end for a while but found it to be quite dull. I get that some of the performance challenges can be interesting to work on, but most of the time I felt like I was just passing data from one place to another.

On the front-end I get to sink my teeth into way more diverse topics like UX, animation, performance, etc.

I guess I've always just had a love for graphics :)

[EmNudge]

I like backend, but I'm a frontend guy. I really like visual programming where I can see my code come to life in a more user-friendly way. I like making things for the common person more than other developers.

[Francisco Quintero 🇨🇴]

Backend!

My initial days in web programming were as a frontend but having to deal every hour with CSS and browsers was unappealing.

Then came this day I had the chance to do a migration of about 20 wordpress sites. I did manually for every site but learn a lot and promised myself to learn bash to automate things.

Also, I had started to relearn Ruby on Rails(I had been introduced to the framework in that same place), got a job as a RoR backend developer(in a another company) and from that day on, I've been a backend.

In fact, I'm a fullstack but I consider fullstacking as a myth but yeah, have to believe it from time to time :D

[Tom VanAntwerp]

I started with graphic design and now I mostly work in the front end. I love the instant visual feedback of it.

I used to think the back end was the more complicated bit, but I'm not as sure anymore. Front end is plenty complicated these days, and I should really spend more time with the back end.

[Kasey Speakman]

For me they each strike a different chord. On front-end, it is very satisfying to iterate on a design and finally arrive at something which makes the user feel safe and confident in their task. On back-end, it feels like a sweet accomplishment when I figure out a way to handle a complex use case elegantly.

I probably prefer the logic-based constraints of the back-end more than the cognitive science constraints of the front-end. But I like to get into both.

[Rodrigo Mikin]

I am both, thou most people prefer me to work on the front-end side because i work swiftly like an hour for an estimated 8 hours of work. I also like dealing with data / API integration / SQL stored procs as they are fun to work with thou easy if the framework you are working on is organized (component-based).

[Matthias 🤖]

In my first job, I started as a Java Backend Developer (Java EE with Tomcat and JBoss).

I really liked the opportunities and different approaches which backend development offered to me (APIs, databases, Spring Framework).
In the last years I do not spend much time writing Java code. My primary language for backend work is now TypeScript and / or JavaScript (which - in my opinion - makes developing faster).
In my current job I am also doing some DevOps stuff with Kubernetes and Docker, which I also like very much.

As I am now working in a smaller company I also have to do some Frontend work with React and Angular, which is totally okay for me and I also find it enjoyable.

So at the moment I would call myself a Fullstack / DevOps Engineer, but I still prefer Backend work, because I am a terrible designer.
If I am forced to put some numbers in here, I would say 75% backend and 25% frontend.

The only drawback in Backend development: Your work is not as present as Frontend stuff.

[Prahlad Yeri]

I'm a full-stack dude because of two reasons:

1. I'm a freelance coder who works solo, so I can't afford to get too specialized (in just one framework or skill).
2. I want to code an app that works, so I take care of both frontend and backend.

I happen to know python, php, JS and HTML/CSS, and they all play their part in the stack! I don't have a thorough mastery over front-end CSS design, so I use a solid framework like Bootstrap and libraries like DataTables.net for development.

If I were working in a large IT company like Google or Amazon as a dev, maybe I could have afforded the specialization of working as a frontend or backend dev!