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Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

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Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#141

Post by drakonka »

Having done backend and now moving to frontend, I would not say either one of them is harder than the other. They're completely different. Having said that, my backend experience can help with taking relevant context into account when solving frontend problems. Things like security, API design and usage, etc, are always on my mind. Likewise, your current frontend experience might give you greater context when working on backend services.

As someone else mentioned, data management and API backwards compatibility is a bigger thing in backend that a frontend dev might find challenging to move to. It's just a different set of problems, but very interesting in its own right.

An example of something that might be easier is not having to worry about browser and device compatibility like you do with frontend (right now a point of frustration for me!)

Both can be very fun and quick to iterate on (microservices written in Go were extremely fun to write and maintain for me!)

Right now I have no preference for either one: both have been providing very fun challenges and learning experiences. I would not move to backend just because you think it's easier, unless your brain is just better wired to handle the types of hard backend problems you would encounter rather than the types of hard frontend problems you encounter now.

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#143

Post by schwartzworld »

littlecranky67 wrote: post #136
schwartzworld wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> you could pick a front-end framework designed to have a low rate of sudden changes, e.g. Elm. React barely changes at all. The last major change was 3 years ago when they introduced hooks, which was not sudden. Even then they didn't deprecate the old way of doing things. You can write React today the same as you did in 2018 if you want.

React is a prime example of fast-change (even though not so fast as angular did). Since 2014, they changed their main programming paradigm 3 times (mixins/make*, real ES6 classes, now hooks). Then there was state management; first Flux, later Redux, then MobX became fashionably while today I start React projects without any state library and just use the stable context API + hooks. And let alone the plentheora of maj…

> Then there was state management; first Flux, later Redux, then MobX

Redux and Mobx are not part of React. The Flux pattern is still valid and is an inherent part of writing React code?

> ReactRouter

This is also not part of React.

> today I start React projects without any state library

Is this a hot take? The creator of Redux literally said "Don't use Redux until you have problems with vanilla React." https://twitter.com/dan_abramov/status/699241546248536064

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#144

Post by schwartzworld »

NateEag wrote: post #140
schwartzworld wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> learned lots of back-end and dev-ops-y stuff, bash scripting , linux etc I use shell scripts and Linux for front end every day. Modern frontend is quite programmatic. > However, they can crash at age 30+ when those front-end skills aren't cool anymore You've seen a lot of front enders age out of it? Why would this be? My whole team are frontenders in their 30s.

"Modern" web frontend work involves a lot of chasing after new tooling, frameworks, and libraries. In your thirties, you're more likely to have a stable relationship and kids to care for. If the tools you learned in your twenties age out of relevance, then you may well have a hard time retraining to new tools while raising small kids.

> If the tools you learned in your twenties age out of relevance

If someone learned React in your 20s and then "aged out", they must have been an early adopter. React is only 9 years old and most developers didn't start learning it in 2013. And it's far from irrelevant: https://trends.builtwith.com/javascript/React

> "Modern" web frontend work involves a lot of chasing after new tooling, frameworks, and libraries.

Le meme never gets old.

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#145

Post by donatj »

I have done both over the years. I started out primarily frontend but have gravitated towards backend. I try to keep up with frontend, but it does change very quickly. To your point, backend changes far less frequently, but it does change. I feel like its slower pace of change makes it a more sustainable career path. Time will tell.

A lot of people are saying they’re similar in difficulty, but I believe backend is simpler largely because it’s easier to model. You have a much simpler more defined picture of these are my inputs, this is my output. You also have control over the exact environment your software runs under. Frontend often feels less like a science and more like managing chaos. Backend just has so many less variables outside your control overall.

I feel like backend can be a little thankless at time, at least from outside. People care a lot more about some new widget than the transparent background changes that took months to roll out seamlessly and kept the whole thing running.

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#146

Post by mrozbarry »

I'm a bit of a jack of all trades developer (front/back end web, desktop/native/mobile, a little embedded), and if I were to point out the main issue here, it _sounds_ like the projects/jobs you've worked haven't either given you opportunities to be mentored in newer tech/work-flows, or haven't given you opportunities to learn on your own. These issues could be your own fault, too, I don't know. For reference, I've been a hobbyist developer since 2001, professional since 2010.

The thing about working in tech, is no matter what you work on, technology is always advancing. There will always be newer, better, and more accepted ways than what you're doing now.

For instance, in 2007, it was perfectly reasonable to use bootstrap and jquery, and boom, you have your responsive layouts, animations, etc. You can still do that today, but I think that would be considered legacy by most developers. Now you need to have a decent grasp of raw css (v3, which has a lot more layout-related directives), and vanilla javascript.

Having knowledge on core fundamentals has a lot more value than knowledge in libraries, and that's been the case well before 2007. If you invested a lot of time in bootstrap+jquery (or whatever tech you/your company chose in 2007), those skills aren't completely wasted, but the investment in how javascript, as a language, works, or modern layouts in css are much higher value.

If you've lost your confidence/will to apply to newer jobs, that's a deeper issue than just switching from front-end to back-end. Working in software is literally having to learn and re-learn the same things over and over as technology improves, or the ways languages do tasks change. The only thing back-end may give you is slightly more stability, but even that isn't guaranteed.

So before you go all-in on switching from a front-end only to back-end only, maybe there are some questions we, as a community, can help you resolve.

- Do you have anyone mentoring/guiding you through all the changes that have happened in web tech since 2007?

- Does your job give you any opportunities to grow?

- What is the single biggest pain-point daily for you, and is that something we can help you solve?

- Are you disinterested in front-end technology, or just overwhelmed?

- What is so appealing about back-end over front-end?

I hope I haven't come across as uncaring, I truly hope we can sort out the issue you're having <3

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#147

Post by julik »

In my view backend dev "done well" is easier than "frontend dev done well" for a few reasons, and spoiler - they mostly have to do with people aspects of software:

* Frontend is UI development. UI is hard (race conditions, hard to test, way more edge cases) _and_ a lot of the work you do is valuing, judging, reasoning about and improving aesthetics. You have to be comfortable (and kind) operating in fields where aesthetics and taste are a driver

* Frontend is way, way closer to stakeholders who will (often unfairly) judge what you make and express their opinions which you are going to have to take into account and balance. It is much easier for the pointy haired boss to see that the button is "off shade of green" than it is for them to see that a specific transaction is not guaranteed to be atomic.

* Frontend is much closer to the end users, with a variety of configurations hard to anticipate for (screen resolutions, browser versions, browser extensions, draconian MITM proxies and restrictions) but also just much more variety of _people_ who your product has to satisfy

Re: Ask HN: Is back end dev generally easier than front end?

#148

Post by tompazourek »

On FE side, a lot of stuff gets complicated because nowadays everyone wants to use tools designed for building SPAs.

On BE side, a lot of stuff gets complicated because nowadays everyone wants to use tools designed for building microservices.

I'm oversimplifying, of course.

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