Back-end developers are the creators of the logic of an application. Whereas front-end developers make a website or app look good to the eye, the back-end part makes the whole thing work.
Part of what back-end developers do is designing the architecture of the system, building frameworks, and deploying algorithms to solve problems. They make it possible for you to log into your favorite services, store and manipulate your data. It’s thanks to a good back-end that your information is secure, and easy to access from any place in the world with wi-fi.
Which means that for many companies in the tech industry, their back-end is the most important part of their success. Back-end adds crucial usability to application interfaces built by front-end developers.
Back-end programming requires sharp, analytical thinking. The skills and tools required to do the job right are quite different than in front-end development.
Back-end developers should know web server technologies like Nginx, Apache or J2EE. Other good-to-know technologies include operating systems (Unix, Linux, Windows Server, Mac OS), content management systems (CMS, like WordPress or Ghost), cloud computing solutions (like AWS or Microsoft Azure), and different APIs and how to integrate them.
Back-end developers are responsible for the speed, responsiveness and making sure that the all features work properly, as well as enabling good communication between the server, database and application.
They need to write effective, clean, useful and reusable code, but their biggest challenge lies elsewhere. Before any code is written, the most important thing is understanding the business side of the project, translating it into technical requirements, and designing the right technology to meet those requirements.