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?
For further actions, you may consider blocking this person and/or reporting abuse
Read next
Be Real: How to Use AI Writing Tools and Stay Authentic
Jimmy McBride -
JavaScript Memory Management and Optimization Techniques for Large-Scale Applications
Shafayet Hossain -
Why "AI" is the new "sustainable"
Ingo Steinke, web developer -
Impostor Syndrome: from A - Z
Emanuele Bartolesi -
Top comments (43)
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?
I think I prefer backend so I don’t see my work 😅
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.
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.
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.
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!
THIS! It blows my mind what people can do with CSS.
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 :)
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
I'm a full-stack dude because of two reasons:
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!