Front End vs. Back End Developers

Websites and web apps create a perfect division between the model and the view making them an excellent Model-View-Controller (MVC) application environment. Front end developers in web development and design focus on user interfaces and presentations while back end developers focus on database interactions and the true logic of the website or application.

Differentiating front end and back end development is key to helping you choose the right career path from the beginning. This is so important since you will have to learn different development languages and principles.

Client Side Development (Front End)

Front end developers use HTML, CSS and JavaScript to present data in user friendly interface models. Despite their tight relationship with the presentation, the front end developer isn’t necessarily a designer. They focus on creating a seamless user experience by making user-system interaction as seamless as possible.

With modern browsers and apps executing more code on the client side, front end developers are combining JavaScript or JavaScript bundles like AJAX and Angular JS to handle initial data manipulations like form validation or other logical manipulations that don’t affect the data base.

Front End Developer Tools and Skills

Front end developers need a strong understanding of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. In addition to this, the developer needs to understand frameworks like Backbone, AngularJS, EmberJS and Bootstrap to make their work easier. The understanding of AJAX and its role in letting pages dynamically interact with the server side on the back end is very important especially when building heavy applications that need to load data in the background without affecting user experience.

The basic responsibilities of a front end developer are:

• Work with designers to influence design and bring it to life through mockups and actual design
• Identify user experience problems and suggest design changes to improve on UX
• Collaborate with back end developers to ensure the front end gets the data it needs when it needs it

Back End Developers (Server Side)

The back end is the backbone of the application. This consists of the core system whose sole purpose is to ensure that the right data goes to the right part of the database and that the front end gets the right presentation data. This backbone will do all the calculations and manipulations needed to process the queries and return necessary answers.

A simple login query from the front end will need a back end that queries the right database, compares the password and user name to what is on record, identifies user privileges, and preferences before sending back the right profile page data to the front end for display.

Skills and Tools

Back end developers use server-side languages to build application logic and database systems to save or manipulate data. The languages include PHP, Python, Java, .Net and Ruby while popular database systems include Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server. Most job openings will demand a detailed understanding of frameworks like Zend, Symfony, CakePHP and version control software like Git, CVS and SVN.

Apart from just manipulating data, back end developers have to do documentation and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure that all system requirements are met.

Full Stack Developers

Full stack developers combine both front end and back end development. They will be a valuable part of smaller teams working on a complete system as they can double up and take the slack whichever way it goes.

In addition to being an excellent asset to small teams, full stack developers might also be great overall team managers since they understand both front end and back end development.

How to Get Started With Web Design and Development

Most web development jobs will require a bachelor’s degree in a related field. The bachelor’s degree teaches you more than the mere coding hence making you a better team worker as you will have a perfect understanding of development cycles, terminology, and standards.

Are you excited about the field of web development and design? If you’re interested in earning a Bachelor of Science in Computer and Information Science with a Major in Software Development - Web Design and Development Track from ECPI University, this could be the perfect opportunity for you to start. With a year-round schedule and accelerated classes, you could spend less time earning your degree and more time building websites. To see if this is right move for you, contact a friendly admissions advisor today.

It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!

DISCLAIMER – ECPI University makes no claim, warranty, or guarantee as to actual employability or earning potential to current, past or future students or graduates of any educational program we offer. The ECPI University website is published for informational purposes only. Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of information contained on the ECPI.edu domain; however, no warranty of accuracy is made. No contractual rights, either expressed or implied, are created by its content.

Gainful Employment Information – Web Development - Bachelor’s

For more information about ECPI University or any of our programs click here: http://www.ecpi.edu/ or http://ow.ly/Ca1ya.