Learn more about the IT career paths you can choose from.
It’s all about the behind-the-scenes, so everything that happens on the server: database management, receiving communication over the Internet, and so on. This is the part of web page development that handles the data, i.e. it is not seen on the screen but takes place in the background. There is a back-end for almost every company, web application, and mobile application in the world. Where isn’t there any back-end? For example, in a mobile calculator or in a game where you don't play with anyone else.
Designing a website that can serve many users while having secure data management and storage requires logical yet flexible code structure that should also be easily maintained.
If you don’t necessarily like super artsy-creative work, you’ll like these more abstract tasks.
Any interaction that appears to someone else or something someone else did and you want to see it or you can also access it on another computer, such as being able to register on a social network, log in, query your friends list, view their pictures, chat with them, is the back-end part of the story.
Stronger logical, algorithmic thinking is needed in this area (especially in the future, but this does not necessarily mean that back-enders are smarter, though).
A full-stack developer is a mix of back-end and front-end who, deep down, prefers only one area, but manages, with their knowledge, to know what either side needs. In project teams, the role of tech lead is usually like this, someone who needs to be able to communicate with both front-end and back-end staff.
You need to be familiar with the whole process (both back-end and front-end aspects) in order to create a usable and deployable product.
If you don’t want to choose between front-end and back-end. It’s for you if you’re interested in end-to-end processes and want to see the entire web application, not just the certain technical pieces.
It is more typical for small companies with few employees or if you want to work as a freelancer to create small websites. On larger projects, as we have already written, it is mainly the tech lead position that requires full-stack knowledge.
This area and term have become very popular lately, almost a buzzword. Even though you’re a full-stack developer, you’ll always love one ‘end’ better. In fact, today, both back and front enders are expected to move in a full-stack direction over time instead of narrowing their expertise to one or the other.
It’s all about websites’ appearance and layout: here the question is not the data, but what it looks like and how it works.
A website should look good on the millions of varieties and brands of devices and their screens as well as in different browsers. In addition, front-end includes the programming of all the more complex actions: zoom, drag and drop, e.g. when the image on a clothing web shop becomes larger if you hover your mouse over it.
If it is important to you that your work be eye-catching, colorful and unique.
On your favorite social media site, the data on what images you have in your gallery comes from the back-end, but how they appear and how you can scroll through them with arrows is the job of the front-end.
Contrary to popular belief, a sense of beauty is not absolutely necessary because there is usually a separate designer or UX person for this purpose. (Sure, they’d be happy if someone has a feel for aesthetics, but this depends more on the company’s culture and needs.) It may seem simpler than the back-end at first glance, but it’s not!
This branch of software development is about extending the capabilities of an existing platform (such as ServiceNow or Salesforce) with custom development, including integrating the platform with existing business processes and building integration with existing systems.
You need to have knowledge of a complex system and keep in touch with customers. Of course, soft skills are important for all software developers, but in this specialization, it is extremely important that you communicate properly with the other parties involved in the project.
If you are interested in corporate business processes, e.g. IT, HR, finance, logistics, etc., not only in the “raw” code, and it’s important for you to see and understand the business processes as well.
The HR process of a larger company consists of many steps, recruitment, selection, training, etc., and this is often handled in Excel sheets. There is a great need to replace this, and a ServiceNow Developer typically works on such projects where the platform’s capabilities need to be individually expanded and integrated into the company’s existing systems.
This has been the most dynamically developing area in recent years, with all industry forecasts showing that this direction will determine software development in the next period.
You need to “keep alive” a platform called Salesforce, adjust settings and augment the platform with no-code automations to meet business needs.
You need to be familiar with a complex system and work with other team members, like developers, admins, and consultants to solve complex tasks. In this area, it is extremely important to communicate properly with others involved in the project.
If you want a future-proof IT career, but coding is not for you.
1. There is a request to automatically send out birthday and name day greeting messages for people stored in the system.
2. A new version of Salesforce has been released, with a number of changes that affect your workplace too. These changes need to be managed, communicated with the right stakeholders, tested for changes and finally introduced to the organization.
With the development of automation, more and more jobs are being created in the IT field that no longer require programming skills.
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DevOps is responsible for making sure that when developers change something in the program's code, it automatically becomes available to everyone on the Internet. Every time the code changes, an automated process triggers that runs various checks. If everything proves to be OK, the automation pushes the new version of the app to the web. DevOps includes setting up so-called monitoring systems that alert you when there is a problem with the program.
DevOps developers must know the ins and out of the entire system: from the database through the back-end all the way to the front-end, while being familiar with the various cloud systems and hardware the code is running on. DevOps developers know all about the the advantages and disadvantages of every part of the system and how the individual software modules are connected to each other, while being masters of various automation techniques as well.
If, in addition to software development, you are also interested in where the applications "live", how they get to the "cloud", as well as what it takes to make them feel really good there. :)
When you see on your favorite social media site that a new version has been activated, looks a little different, or works differently, you can be sure that it got to your screen through DevOps processes.
In addition to DevOps, an increasingly common trend is the so-called "Serverless" development, where developers use cloud-based technologies behind which everything is automatically set up.
A programmer who deals specifically with data and databases, managing and developing them in a form that makes them easy to process. Knows and uses Big Data and data visualization tools.
You need to be familiar with several types of databases, as well as methods for extracting data from a system in a form that can then be used for analysis.
If you have previously found it exciting to work with data, e.g. you enjoy using Excel or Access and are interested in automation techniques.
Imagine a larger retailer with 4 separate web stores selling books, electronics, hot drinks and kitchen utensils. They want to create reports that pull data from all databases as well as their joint billing system. The Data Engineer is responsible for setting up a system, that automatically collects this data.
The field of Data Science, which has started to develop in an explosive fashion in recent years, has brought with it the need for more and more Data Engineers to assist and automate the work of Data Scientists and Data Analysts.
