Are you considering web development school? Let’s talk websites — the front end, back end and all the skills you’ll need to succeed in the industry.
Have you ever opened up a new browser tab, entered a URL, and been amazed at how fast the webpage loads? Notice the cleanliness and sharpness of the webpages, the layout and the striking visuals. Guess who’s responsible for each part of that visual experience and functionality? That would be the website’s back end web developer.
WHAT DOES A BACK END WEBSITE DEVELOPER DO?
By November 2014, there were well over 680 million webpages on the Internet. Over a year later, that number has grown even higher. This means great job security for those in charge of building, maintaining, analyzing and coding websites — back end web developers.
Websites are vital to the successful survival of any business. This is especially true if that business wants to stay competitive. When it comes to the web development industry, back end web developers won’t be experiencing a shortage of work anytime soon.
In order to understand the responsibilities of a back end developer, you first have to understand what the front end developer does, and how the back end developer compliments that.
WHAT IS A WEBSITE’S FRONT END?
A website’s front end is where users interact with the site. Everything there is controlled using your web browser and created using combinations of JavaScript, CSS and HTML.
This includes everything you actually see when using the site, like:
- Sliders
- Colors
- Sidebars
- Fonts
- Dropdown menus
HOW DOES THE WEBSITE’S BACK END POWER ITS FRONT END?
The back end of a website is where all of the data is stored. It consists of the following three components:
1. Server
2. Application
3. Database
It’s the job of a back end web developer to build, fix and maintain the technology that powers those three components. This, in turn, gives “visual power” to the website’s user-facing side (the front end).
SKILLS AND TOOLS NEEDED TO LEARN WEB DEVELOPMENT
The back end developer must make those same three components — the server, application and database — communicate with one another. That means using server-side languages all three can understand, such as:
- .Net
- Java
- Python
- Ruby
- PHP
…and various other tools to find, change and save data before serving it back through the front end code to the user. Some of these tools include:
- SQL Server
- Oracle
- MySQL
Other skills savvy developers work their way towards mastering include:
- CakePHP
- Symfony
- Zend
- Git
- CVS
- SVN
- Linux
HOW TO BECOME A BACK END WEB DEVELOPER
To become a back end developer, you’ll need to learn various industry tools to create dynamic websites and web applications. That means you’ll need to learn how to write code and understand server-side languages in order to create the user-experience your employers and clients will expect from you. One of the best ways to learn web development is by attending a local web development school.
A WEB DEVELOPMENT SCHOOL TO HELP YOU SUCCEED!
F.I.R.S.T. Institute’s Graphic Design and Web Development Program will set you on the right course to becoming a back end developer in just 11 months. From a faculty made up of experienced design industry professionals to a broad spectrum of courses and a dedicated Career Development department, we give students access to everything they need to succeed in the web development industry, both in class and on the job.
If you’d like to know more about our Graphic Design and Web Development school, please give us a call or send us an email! Our admissions team are standing by to answer any questions you might have.
