Front-End VS. Back-End Developing (&& What It Means to Be a Full Stack Developer)
If you’re in the process of entering the software engineer field, then you probably keep seeing words like front-end, back-end, and full stack development, and wondering what they mean.
Internet strangers will tell you what you “should” and “should not” do, what languages you “should” and “should not” learn and then close with a pitch to buy their program. It can be overwhelming when selecting a program that teaches the programming languages that you wish to learn, so it’s important you understand the overall development process before selecting.
Front-End Development
Front-end development is often referred to as the client-side of development. This means, as the name suggests, you are creating and manipulating software that will change how the client sees and interacts with the application. A front-end developer creates an app or a webpage to be both functional and aesthetic.
A Career in Front-End Development
According to Indeed, the average front-end developer in the United States makes a yearly salary of $106,539, and according to a 2020 Stock Overflow Study, 37.1 percent of programmers identified as front-end developers.
Common Front-End Languages
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language) — the standard language for documents displayed in a web browser. If you grew up with Myspace, you’re already familiar with HTML by designing your page.
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) — language that alters the presentation of the document. CSS is often combined with HTML to create a complete webpage.
- JavaScript — scripting language that creates dynamic and complex features on your webpage. This could be adding an interactive map or a digital clock that shows the real time.
- React — JavaScript library that allows you to combine CSS and HTML elements on your webpage.
Back-End Development
Back-end development refers to webpage functions that the client never sees — a server, an application, and a database. Back-end developers work on ensuring the application’s database, integration, and API are accurate and working seamlessly. Back-end developers have much less creativity than front-end developers and are focused entirely on functionality and accuracy.
A Career in Back-End Development
According to Indeed, the average front-end developer in the United States makes a yearly salary of $115,478, and according to a 2020 Stock Overflow Study, 55.2 percent of programmers identified as back-end developers.
Common Back-End Languages
- Ruby — open source language that focuses on simplicity and productivity. Ruby was created by programmer, Yukihiro Matsumoto, for programmers to use easily.
- Java — object-oriented language designed to have few implementation dependencies. Commonly used for games, social media applications, and video applications.
- Python — object-oriented language with an emphasis on readability to create scalable code.
Full Stack Development
If front-end focuses on the client side of an application, and back-end focuses on the database and API, then what does a full stack developer do? A full stack developer is someone who can do both and works on all aspects of a program. Full stack developers are useful to spot bugs and errors with entire application, since she or he knows knowledge about both.
The term full stack developer was coined when websites were comparatively small and much less complicated than the programs created today. Now it is common to see full teams of developers to focus on separate pieces of the programs.
A Career in Full Stack Development
According to Indeed, the average front-end developer in the United States makes a yearly salary of $106,148, and according to a 2020 Stock Overflow Study, 55.2 percent of programmers identified as full stack developers.
Full Stack Languages
A full stack developer is competent at both front-end and back-end programming languages. For example, This developer will use HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to create a aesthetic client-side, and Ruby on Rails to create a secure database and back-end.
