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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?

#151

Post by nickd2001 »

schwartzworld wrote: post #75
nickd2001 wrote: post #64

IMHO, back-end is a better long-term career investment, as it changes slower, less faddish, and you learn skills applicable to many situations. Its not easier, if anything actually harder, but more satisfying in my experience. I've noticed many early-to mid 20s devs love front-end, the new and shiny, it feels creative and "cool" to them. However, they can crash at age 30+ when those front-end skills aren't cool anymo…

> 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.

Possibly you answered your own Q there? ;). Using scripts, Linux plentifully in a front-end job, might indicate being a bit more full-stack than you call yourselves, and hence, you've got some long-life skills alongside the Angular/React/whatever. I'm not saying everyone ages out of it, just I'd seen it as a thing for some people. I speak as someone now a bit old for tech (late 40s) , yet somehow managing to have a marketable skillset, some of which is ancient yet always applicable. Maybe being a purely front-end dev is safe as long as you become a vim expert in the process. ;). (not entirely joking here actually!)

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

#152

Post by lucasyvas »

Experienced full stack here. Neither are easier, but front-end is more annoying to me. It's the only part of the software that non-coders can understand - thus there are endless battles on certain designs and why they won't work, etc.

These days, a lot of front-end is also "back-end". If you are managing state client side in a SPA, you have a back-end - it's in the browser.

I'd be wary of anyone that can definitively tell you one is harder than the other. They don't know what they're talking about.

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

#153

Post by littlecranky67 »

schwartzworld wrote: post #143
littlecranky67 wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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://twit…

Not sure if you are trolling or just not long enough into the game, but pre-hooks/stable context era you'd hit the problems with vanilla React pretty quickly. From my experience back in the day, everbody was using some sort of state container and to some extend today, still is right from the get go.

Yes, I know, none of the libs are part of React and react is not a framework, but by now everybody knows that and uses React as a synonym for the React ecosystem. I have yet to see the enterprise project that didn't use either a state container or other parts from the react ecosystem such as react-router, react-intl, material-ui, CRA and the likes. Like it or not, React is an ecosystem, and fast changing one if you are in the field.

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

#155

Post by bluedino »

valenterry wrote: post #59
ricardobeat wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Data / API / DB design will take 10%-20% of your time at most (unless you’re a DBA), maybe as low as 1% on a large company where almost everything you touch was made by someone else. In my experience (10+ years) backend is almost always faster when it comes to building apps. Not running your code on 300 different devices and OSs, or having to deal with 20 years of backwards compatibility is a big advantage. Plus the…

I have the impression that your experience is mostly limited to creating new applications, from scratch up. But in reality, most backend-work is maintaining and extending existing backends and then things become much more difficult. And that's also why backend is different from frontend: it's easy to throw a frontend away and replace it with a new one - try to do that with a backend - usually much much harder.

Even new stuff has challenges. Integrating API's for other devices and services that your app uses. Working with analytics and reporting.

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

#156

Post by Mountain_Skies »

Frontend isn't so much more difficult as it is more annoying. The difficult parts of backend development might take a lot of research, design, and even experimentation but it is usually roughly logical. Frontend is often a case of wrangling cats in the form of dozens of libraries, all with different design paradigms. Due to release velocity, these designs are often poorly thought out. You spend lots of time editing configurations, often poorly documented, to get everything to work together. Much of it is trial and error instead of logical deduction.

My biggest challenge on the backend has been poorly documented systems with arbitrary design choices. This sounds a lot like the frontend but the difference is that on the backend, these quirks are relatively static. Once you figure the system out, you can build upon it. With the frontend you never know when some library is going to send a tidal wave through everything.

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

#157

Post by [deleted] »

valenterry wrote: post #32

No, Backend is not easier than Frontend. Both are equally hard, since you will always be pushed to get the most out of what is currently available in terms of technology & tooling, no matter of your niche. If not, your job will become worth less since you are going to be automated away at some point. A fallacy that I found many frontend-developers have is that they believe Backend is the same as Frontend, just that y…

[deleted]

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

#159

Post by NateEag »

schwartzworld wrote: post #144
NateEag wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"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…

Yes, if you learned React you'd have a decent shelf life still.

What if you learned classic AngularJS, due to go unsupported in a month and a half? What if you threw in with ExtJS ages ago and the enterprise corp you've been using it for just downsized and outsourced your project? Maybe you were an EmberJS aficionado but can't find new gigs using it. I worked on a greenfield project in Backbone/Thorax/Mustache a number of years back but haven't seen any of those in the wild since. Maybe you love Elm but can't find any places that will hire you to use it. Ditto using Clojure on the frontend.

Picking the winner is a great trick, but my point was that if you didn't (or just the companies you worked for didn't), you may find yourself in a bit of a hole, specifically if you have a lot of other responsibilities in your life.

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