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Molly Struve (she/her)
Molly Struve (she/her)

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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?

Oldest comments (43)

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jesusgollonet profile image
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.

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molly profile image
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.

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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.

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molly profile image
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!

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torianne02 profile image
Tori Crawford

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

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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.

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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

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Max Ong Zong Bao

hmmm.... backend been building APIs for a while so still prefer to focus on the backend but will be able to build something in the front-end using bootstrap or other prebuilt templates that I could modify myself.

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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?

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Lee Jarvis

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

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iamschulz profile image
Daniel Schulz • Edited

The similarities and differences between frontend and backend get washed up. See Chris Coyiers blog post about The Great Divide (css-tricks.com/the-great-divide/)
I think it's more about a Design/UX focus or a logical/programming focus (don't pin me down on wording here, please. I do consider CSS as programming).

That being said, I come from a visual background and feel most comfortable with CSS, but I came to enjoy writing business logic in JS as well. So... frontend full stack?

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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).

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Daniel Coturel

I'm backend. I like data structures, transactions, databases. In fact, I could say without blushing that my perfect job would be creating and maintaining APIs for others to consume.

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torianne02 profile image
Tori Crawford • Edited

I've only been coding for over a year and haven't yet landed a job, but I really prefer backend.

When I first got into coding, I thought I wanted to go into frontend but then I learned Ruby on Rails and fell in love with the backend.

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Kara Luton

I only learned frontend at my bootcamp and have exclusively worked in that since. I really love seeing what I build come to life which is why I’ve always been drawn to the frontend. Lately, I’ve been thinking about diving into more backend development though!

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Tristan Jahnke

I love backend but I'm biased as a DevOps engineer and someone with very little graphics or design abilities

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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.

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Aadi Bajpai

I really like to design, graphically but also in terms of designing the logic behind something. So it's weird that I like backend and the initial graphic design, but can't really use a frontend framework to save my life 🤷‍♂️

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Philip Hallstrom

Backend, no question. Partly because I've never cared for Javascript. Mostly because I enjoy wrangling data and watching a well built system just... work.

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James Thompson

I used to have much less of a preference. I used to like moving between frontend and backend. Today, I favor the backend heavily because of both environmental factors of my career, but also the way frontend has taken on some of what I view as unnecessary complexity. I remember when knowing the specs for HTML, CSS were big keys to web development. Now, those pieces, which are still important have been almost wholly subsumed by an obsession with Javascript.

This isn't new though, before CSS Animations were possible there were libraries like MooTools that brought richer animations to the web. But, with the rise of component-obsession some of the same pitfalls of aggressive reuse that have plagued certain backend communities at times are becoming the expected normal for frontend. Think of the early days of Rails and the seemingly never ending flow of gems that turned some apps into little more than bundles of configuration and light customization with more of a meta-development feel.

I'm thankful that my role has me working across frontend and backend, because I can help guide folks towards not assuming that breaking frontend into small pieces means that those pieces need to be reusable. Sometimes just having small pieces is valuable, even if some of those pieces are duplicated to some extent. So, I definitely prefer the backend, but I think the frontend still has a lot to learn from not reinventing and retreading paths that are already well-worn in other communities.