The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Career as a Back-End Web Developer

Introduction to Back-End Web Developer

A back-end developer builds and maintains the behind-the-scenes components of a web application, including databases, server management, and application logic. They ensure that data flows between the server and browser smoothly, allowing users to interact seamlessly with front-end features. For example, when you log into a website, purchase an item, or post a comment, a back-end developer has coded the processes that securely manage and store your data.

Here’s what we will cover:

• Basic Concepts in Server, Networking and Hosting
• Microsoft SQL Server Database Engine 5
• Visual studio and nosql
• Combine Object-oriented Programming with Relational Databases

How to implement Rest APIs?

• Provisioning Authentication and Granting Access
• IT Security Enforcements in Online Transactions
• Using Git and Github
• How to run Containerized Applications
• Indepth Application Performance Evaluation Analysis

A Review of Different Cloud Providers (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud)

• Everything About AWS
• A Good Overview of Microsoft Azure
• Deep dive into Google Cloud Platform

Get Familiar with Frameworks and Libraries

• These Frameworks You need to know
• These Libraries are an absolute necessity
• Focus on Debugging and Troubleshooting

Understanding Server, Networking, and Hosting Fundamentals

Most of the applications created today are servers which mean that as back-end web developers you have to have some knowledge of the servers, networking, and hosting.

Servers:

• You have to differentiate between physical and virtual servers.
• As a server, OS most of the time would be a distribution of linux e.g Ubuntu or CentOS.

Networking:

• You have to understand the use of IP addresses, DNS and other protocols such as HTTP and HTTPS.
• You also need to know the use of some networking tools e.g SSH to remotely manage servers.

Hosting:

• Get to know shared, VPS and dedicated hosting.
• Familiarize oneself with cloud services such as AWS, AZURE or Google Cloud for flexible options.

Understanding these concepts allows developers to troubleshoot, optimize and secure web applications in a more effective manner.

Programming Languages to Learn as a Back-End Web Developer: Node.js Python, Ruby Java

There are key languages to which all backend developers need a keen command on:

• Node.js: This is useful for light weight or real time applications due to non- blocking event driven architecture. The developer simply needs knowledge of asynchronous event and the V8 engine.
• Python: This language is easy to read and understand, so it can be used for scripting and fast prototype development, Frameworks like Django and Flask are the ones to focus on here.
• Ruby: A really straightforward language with good syntax, it reduces the difficulty of complex programming tasks. One should concentrate on the fundamentals of Ruby on Rails which is valuable for web programming.
• Java: This programming language is one of the strong supports for higher level applications and it is well known for being secure. Major ones are Spring Framework and JVM performance tuning.

Back-End Web Developer: Working with Databases SQL, NoSQL and ORM

There are many kinds of database technologies that a back-end developer ought to know.

SQL Databases:

• MySQL database is one of the many databases built using SQL earning Analytics
• Using transaction systems ensures Multiple operations will always be atomic or ACID, complying laws ensures consistency preservation.

NoSQL Databases:

• As an example, NoSQL Database Managers such as Mongo DB and Cassandra can provide freedom of working with dynamic schema design while enabling horizontal scaling.
• This makes it ideal for big volumes of real time applications dealing with unstructured data.

Object-Relational Mapping (ORM)

• ORMs such as SqlAlchemy for Python and Hibernate for Java are assistive tools that help integrate data from relational databases with programming objects.
• Increases the productivity as there is no need to write literal SQL queries instead, automated systems are employed, enhancing the maintainability of the code.

Building and Consuming RESTful APIs Back-End Web Developer

RESTful APIs give the possibility for back-end developers to establish channels of interaction between server and client. To become a developer, a person ought to learn some important methods of HTTP that include GET, POST, PUT and DELETE.

• Designing RESTful APIs: It is important to create URIs that are resource oriented and stable and the correct use of status codes.
• Authentication: Strategies that could be adopted to protect APIs include using OAuth token based systems.
• Documentation: The use of Swagger or any other tools can help to highlight the endpoints of APIs for effective use by developers.
• Throttling: Enabling rate limiting to ensure the API is not overstrained.

Not only that, but a good back-end developer should also have the needed knowledge on consuming APIs so that third party services can be integrated.

Apache, Nginx and Others Back-End Web Developer

As for any kind of back-end development, web servers are very important. Most popular ones are:

• Apache HTTP Server: Its flexibility, wide range of available modules and strong support from the community is what one might expect from web server software that is so widely recognized. Best suited for intricate structures and enterprise sized solutions.
• Nginx: Designed with high assumptions of number of connections being issued, very lightweight, and very fast. More popular than other web servers as reverse proxies and load balancers.
• LiteSpeed: Zero impacts on quality, plenty of performance along with other security features. Will work with configurations meant for Apache.

Some other, which are worth mentioning:

• Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services)
• Caddy
• Tomcat (focused mainly for Java applications) Choosing a certain web server should be made with specific project requirements and performance expectations in mind.

Insights on Authentication and Authorization Mechanisms

What roles authentication and authorization have should be easily comprehensible:

• Passwords: The password is the most basic means of authentication. However, complicating it and setting expiry limits can boost its security offering.
• OAuth: Users of a service can login using existing accounts such as Google and Facebook.
• MFA/2FA: Passwords are security components as well, but these security methods reinforce one more layer of security.

Security Guidelines to Back-End Web Developer

As far as the back end is concerned, developers need to follow certain guidelines and take care of a few things such as. They need to follow these practices:

• Using HTTPS: Encrypted communication using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.
• Input Validation: Allow Validated user input only so as to avoid any type of SQL injection.
• Access Control: Updating on a regular basis the authentication and authorization processes.
• Installing Patches: It is important to patch software and frameworks to their latest releases.
• Managing Error Responses: Use error messages that do not include stack traces.

Team Collaboration: Back-End Web Developer

The skills which involve enhancing the application versioning and working as a team are essential for almost every backend web developer.

Application Version Control:

• Developers through Git can follow the changes done to their codes.
• It allows for faster roll back of the application to older codes.
• There is control over the applications which assures its dependability.

Working as a Team:

• The platform that GitHub provides allows for developers to get into one locatio0n.
• Codes have to undergo reviews which in turn are assisted by pull requests.
• There is greater efficiency that comes with decentralised team ordering projects.

Best Practices:

• Take time to create meaningful messages for the commit.
• The local changes should be consistently pushed to the repository on GitHub.
• Resolve any conflicts that arise whenever merging branches within the project.

Deploying Applications: Back-End Web Developer

Docker:

• From its name, the technology is for containerization that makes it possible to distribute applications along with the necessary dependencies. The advantages of this technology are the following:
• Availability of consistent environments.
• Ease of installation.

Kubernetes:

By its definition, it does the following tasks:

• Applying a bare minimum changes for the simulated containers and reproducing previous versions.
• A provision of an adequate number of simulations with dynamic changes over time.
• Repetition of specific areas where a problem has been identified.

CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment):

• This technology means seamless integration of any code changes and dispatching them to production. Core tools:
• Jenkins.
• GitLab.
• CircleCI.

“Every tool makes the process of deployment easier and this may increase the level of accuracy while decreasing the time required to get the same results.”

Understanding these technologies allows developers to know how to deploy strong apps, as well as manage and even scale them.

Monitoring and Performance Optimization

Particularly back end web developers should have the understanding of what he or she should do to make the program work properly.

• Automated Testing: Automated testing should be able to cater for all the performance paths that are important.
• Profile Code: Make use of profilers to understand and optimize the slow parts of the codebase.
• Stay Updated: Be informed of the most current best practices regarding performance and its libraries.

Getting Familiar With Cloud Services

Back end web development hugely relies on resources such as cloud services for computing power and versatile APIs to use. The three biggest services at the moment are:

AWS (Amazon Web Services):

• Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2): Servers in the cloud for the run-time.
• Simple Storage Service (S3): Data storage enables the amount of data to grow.
• RDS (Relational Database Service): Managed Mysql and other relational database.

Azure:

• Azure Virtual Machines: Virtualized computers.
• Azure Blob Storage: Stores data of no structured form.
• Azure SQL Database: Database based database service.

Google Cloud:

• Google Compute Engine: A collection of virtual servers in the cloud.
• Google Cloud Storage: Cloud storage for high volume unstructured data.
• Cloud SQL: SaaS that provides structured data storage.

“Acquiring the proficiency of these platforms can be quite valuable for a developer.”

Getting Into Frameworks Back-End Web Developer

Learn the important frameworks and libraries that exist for the back-end. These specific tools help one be very productive and write better quality code.

Well-Known Frameworks:

• Express.js: Fast and minimalist node.js framework.
• Django: A high-level Python framework which aims to hasten web development processes.
• Spring Boot: It is used specifically for developing self-contained Java applications.

Important Libraries:

• Lodash: It’s a javascript library that is collection of utilities for easy modularity.
• SQLAlchemy: It is a basic ORM and SQL toolkit for Python which helps in simplifying queries.
• Passport.js: Enables a form of identification for applications written in Node.js.

When a developer invests time into these frameworks and libraries, they get better at creating sophisticated and high-performance back-end systems.

Improving Debugging Back-End Web Developer

For a back-end web developer, it is equally important to possess good debugging and troubleshooting skills.

• Understand the Problem: Look through the entirety of the issue before making an attempt to resolve it.
• Utilize Debugging Tools: Get the most out of developer tools such as chrome dev tools, postman and log analyzers.
• Write Clear Logs: Formulate clear and adequate log messages which would lead to efficient debugging.
• Break Down the Code: Breakdown the code into several parts which would allow for easier identification of issues.
• Practice with Real Errors: Solve actual errors with the help of coding exercises and coding projects.
• Learn from Experience: Look for patterns in mistakes made and solutions that worked to avoid the same problems in the future.
• Collaborate: Team up with colleagues to exchange problem solving as well as spotting ideas.