Front-End vs Back-End vs Full stack developer
When starting out in web development, you must choose a path to follow, you have to specialize in a specific field, since the 'web' world encompasses many diverse technologies, and it's impossible to master them all.
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Getting Started in Web Development
When starting out in web development, you must choose a path to follow and specialize in a specific field, as the web “world” encompasses many diverse technologies, and it’s impossible to master them all.
If we look at the job market and the organization of teams responsible for web-related projects, we can distinguish three types of “web developers”: Front-End, Back-End, and Full Stack.
Before delving into the details of each type, it’s worth noting that they are not exclusive to each other; in fact, they complement each other perfectly and often work together, providing feedback to enhance the quality of the final result.
What is a Front-End Developer?
This type of developer works on the client side, responsible for programming the user-visible part of a website or web application.
”Front-end developers” handle design, usability, and accessibility of the website. For this reason, it’s beneficial for this role to have an understanding of graphic design (colors, fonts, sizes, etc.) to enrich the user experience.
To carry out their tasks, they need to have strong knowledge in these technologies:
- HTML: It’s a markup language that primarily gives structure to the website. To provide a real-world analogy, it’s the foundation of the web.
- CSS: Style sheets define the styles of the HTML structure, adding details, colors, sizes, etc.
- JavaScript: Responsible for the web’s behavior, it transforms static elements into interactive ones.
Once you master these technologies, you can move on to other emerging tools that continue to grow, such as Angular, React, and Vue.
These three client-side frameworks are revolutionizing the market and seem to have no limits. By following the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern and utilizing web components, you can build a web application more easily and reuse these components for future projects.
What is a Back-End Developer?
A “back-end developer” is a programmer on the server side. Unlike the “front-end developer,” this role handles everything that is hidden from the user but is essential for the proper functioning of the web application.
A back-end programmer needs to have an in-depth understanding of both a programming language and how to interact with databases. Depending on the company and project, they’ll use a different programming language and database.
The most commonly used server-side languages today include:
- Java: One of the most famous and widely used languages in the world, especially its enterprise version (J2EE).
- Python: One of the trendiest languages at the moment. It has experienced exponential growth and is perfect for Big Data.
- PHP: An open-source language that can be embedded in HTML. While it’s still widely used, more modern languages are gaining more popularity.
- Node.js: Allows building scalable open-source programs, and its main advantage is that it uses JavaScript. As a result, both the client and server can be programmed in the same language.
Regarding databases, there are two main types: relational and non-relational.
Relational databases like MySQL rely on a relational schema and are queried using SQL queries. On the other hand, non-relational databases like MongoDB store documents in BSON instead of records. A key advantage of the latter is that they don’t require a relational schema, making scalability easier.
What is a Full Stack Developer?
A “full stack developer” is someone who has sufficient knowledge of both front-end and back-end to carry out a web project from start to finish. This profile is more comprehensive; without needing to be an expert in either facet, they can handle both server-side and client-side work.
With the emergence of Node.js in recent years, the number of full stack developers has increased notably, as using the same programming language has reduced the learning curve.
At this point, which path will you choose? 🤔
