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Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

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11–20 of 56 posts

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#11
post #6

No, front-end and back-end cultures are too different. Front-end people like things that are shiny and new, the latest framework in the latest browser and it's only got to last a year at the very most before it gets re-written again (or the company is bust). Back-end people like things that are proven and stable and don't care if it's a decade old, because they want something that will last another decade. If you try…

> It's why I never trust anyone who claims to be a "full-stack" developer. They will be bad at least one of them.

Or you don't have to use the latest fart.js and still implement frontend that will last more than 1 year. Or maybe I'm just a backend developer claiming to be full stack...

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#12
post #6

No, front-end and back-end cultures are too different. Front-end people like things that are shiny and new, the latest framework in the latest browser and it's only got to last a year at the very most before it gets re-written again (or the company is bust). Back-end people like things that are proven and stable and don't care if it's a decade old, because they want something that will last another decade. If you try…

it is not about trust. Probe them. Ask them questions. You will know with an hour how deep their knowledge of frontend or backend goes.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#13
post #11
post #6

No, front-end and back-end cultures are too different. Front-end people like things that are shiny and new, the latest framework in the latest browser and it's only got to last a year at the very most before it gets re-written again (or the company is bust). Back-end people like things that are proven and stable and don't care if it's a decade old, because they want something that will last another decade. If you try…

> It's why I never trust anyone who claims to be a "full-stack" developer. They will be bad at least one of them. Or you don't have to use the latest fart.js and still implement frontend that will last more than 1 year. Or maybe I'm just a backend developer claiming to be full stack...

>>Or you don't have to use the latest fart.js and...

You joke, but that's an actual thing: http://jsfart.com

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#14

As you say, PHP is pretty old and still widely used. There is still a lot of Cobol code running in the world. I would argue that there is so much inertia in programming languages that you can allow yourself the privilege of selecting strictly from which language you enjoy the most, not by trying to analyze which will provide a stronger career path.

I used to be a flash developer. It's worth considering.

Fair point.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#15
post #6

No, front-end and back-end cultures are too different. Front-end people like things that are shiny and new, the latest framework in the latest browser and it's only got to last a year at the very most before it gets re-written again (or the company is bust). Back-end people like things that are proven and stable and don't care if it's a decade old, because they want something that will last another decade. If you try…

Go is not a decade old. And backend guys like it as well. Django is not that stable either and backend guys like it as well.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#16
From my point of view, JS development can only grow. I'm seeing it in more different places and is our way to go for different projects.

Now, as a professional, I wouldn't tie myself down to a single stack but be able to work with others because there's lot of stuff written on JEE, .Net and PHP that someone has to maintain and are so different from Node.

Also, I don't see other stacks growing as much as Node, like Go or Pyton. And even PHP is that big not because PHP itself but because of Magento, Joomla and all the other PHP based products already out there.

On a final note, affirming that a frontend developer can't do backend is simply stupid. And once Node and ES6 confluence it will be even easier.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#17
From my point of view, JS development can only grow. I'm seeing it in more different places and is our way to go for different projects.

Now, as a professional, I wouldn't tie myself down to a single stack but be able to work with others because there's lot of stuff written on JEE, .Net and PHP that someone has to maintain and are so different from Node.

Also, I don't see other stacks growing as much as Node, like Go or Pyton. And even PHP is that big not because PHP itself but because of Magento, Joomla and all the other PHP based products already out there.

On a final note, affirming that a frontend developer can't do backend is simply stupid. And once Node and ES6 confluence it will be even easier.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#18
post #9

As javascript has continued to crawl into many areas where nobody thought it would, my guess it could grow in the future. But it still lacks a good/popular backend framework (in node), as apposed to client frameworks. At the same time I think PHP has a good future, where 7.0 made a really great progress in performance. Laravel is awsome for web development.

Express seems pretty popular, it has stuff for routes, templates etc... Bit like Backbone for Client, without the HTTP stuff

Yeah, though I still think its a bit thin to act as a good backend. I'm waiting for a better DB/model/controller framework to serve APIs.

Re: Ask HN: Are there and will there be a lot of JavaScript backend developer jobs?

#19
post #6

No, front-end and back-end cultures are too different. Front-end people like things that are shiny and new, the latest framework in the latest browser and it's only got to last a year at the very most before it gets re-written again (or the company is bust). Back-end people like things that are proven and stable and don't care if it's a decade old, because they want something that will last another decade. If you try…

Is this comment satire?
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