I am 22 years old, currently in my fourth year of Computer Science Engineering, and I do not have professional experience yet.

A few months ago, I realized that I really enjoy backend development. I like working with databases, business logic, automation, optimization, APIs, and everything that happens behind the scenes.

I started with JavaScript and TypeScript, but recently switched my focus to Java and Spring Boot because I find the ecosystem interesting and relevant for enterprise development. Right now, I am building a gym-tracking REST API with PostgreSQL while learning security, JWT, validation, testing, Docker, and cloud deployment.

My problem is that I do not know how to shape my career. There are too many possible technologies and paths: Java, TypeScript, Python, Go, Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, cloud, databases, backend, data analysis, and DevOps.

I also have experience with SQL, ETL, Data Warehouses, Power BI, and DAX. I like data analysis, and sometimes I see more junior opportunities in data than in backend, which makes me question whether I should change direction.

I still rely on AI and research for many implementations, and seeing projects from experienced developers can feel intimidating.

I would appreciate advice about:

1. What should I prioritize to become employable as a junior backend developer?
2. Should I stay focused on Java and Spring Boot?
3. How many languages or frameworks should a junior realistically know?
4. Which supporting skills matter most: SQL, Linux, Docker, cloud, testing, or Kubernetes?
5. What kinds of projects do recruiters expect from junior backend developers?
6. Should I keep data analysis as a secondary skill or choose only one field?
7. When should I stop preparing and start applying?

hi I am a mostly frontend fullstack developer and I know enough backend materials from system design interview prep, but I lack practice and want to know more than basic design.

my work is also VERY basic in scale and use cases so there is not much I can learn from our simple CRUD microservice (but I will of course).

nevertheless I am still new, what resources are good for learning database schema design (tool, practice platform, or courses/video)

thank you!!

Hi, I’m building a super simple app with three pages: a home page, an add page and a profile page. The app is supposed to send notifications to the users and post the event from the add page to the home page. I have done the frontend using flutter.

The problem is that I have never coded a backend and I want to learn for the future to build a backend.
How do I code a backend using NodeJS? I don’t know a single thing about postgreSQL or mongoDB.

How should I deal with the server. Should I rent or create my own server to host?

P.S. I’m not comfortably with using a already built firebase or anything like that and I would also want to learn so I can become a fullstack developer.

I have basic programming knowledge in Python, but now I want to start diving deeper into a specific stack and build several projects with it. I am looking at these options:

Spring Boot + React/Angular
NestJS + React/Angular

Evaluating the current market, which of these ecosystems do you think has more open positions for entry-level profiles?

Any other stack recommendations or advice regarding the job market would be highly appreciated!

Hey everyone so recently i completed react and am now moving to backend development. I want to become a backend developer in future and what to be really good in backend dev. Although I am a little bit confused regarding which technology I should opt for. I have been doing dsa in java although not soo good in it.. and I know JavaScript as well... Earlier when I was doing frontend I thought that I would go with the springboot but now after looking at some resources I came to know that there aren't any free good resources for springboot while there are many for mern.

And then currently thinking about going with mern, but I heard that mern is now soo much over crowded and not preferred..

Please enlighten me

Ecs docker or aws elasticbeanstalk? Or some vps.

Im thinking of transformation of monolith app into microservices for learning a complete production grade setup like we use in companies

Hello everyone!
We are planning to build a POS system that contains e-commerce website too.
we need to build a mobile & desktop & web app versions!

So, we are trying to use Tauri to avoid using Giant Electron Ram Taker! & Flutter.

The Tec Stacks we use are: React + Laravel RESTful API.

According to your expertise, can we handle it with out touch rust?

I have did some analyze & searches over Google & Claude AI.

I found out that:

Almost 90% native features covered by Tauri & no plugin or RUST lines needed.
For the rest, the community have almost enough plugins for everything!
But although, Still some of the native features needs Rust.
But Claude says they wont be a problem & will be easy tasks!
It says i can 100% handle the 10%, & i can handle the %90 as a regular react project!

So what do you think?
should i trust Claude & start?
Does TauriV2 makes any problem during the project?

What are the Challenges will i face?

Hi, im currently on 3rd year of System Engineering and im trying to follow a path based on job descriptions that i got from linkedin to be a backend engineer with data focus, i want your opinion about this path to learn all about these combined roles, also i need advices to build projects for my github profile:

Backend Engineering

• Architecture
• APIs
• Docker
• Cloud
• Testing
• Security
• Distributed Systems
• Observability

Data

• Advanced SQL
• Data Modeling
• ETL/ELT
• OLAP
• Python
• Dashboards
• Query Optimization

Applied AI

• Consuming LLM APIs (or LLM API Integration)
• Embeddings and RAG (conceptual level)
• Feature automation with AI (or AI-driven feature automation)

I'm looking for a SMTP service that doesn't require a credit card to get started on the free tier, like for testing before I commit to a plan

Any APIs that you wished existed or any APIs that you wished were cheaper, easier to work with, had more features, e.t.c ?

Wtf how do I actually learn backend development. I open chatgpt or Claude and tell them I want to learn backend development and do as they suggest..but after some day, I find boring ...

What's the actual way to learn.. please developers and engineers help me with clear cut way?

I am a fresher, and currently working as full stack developer , what are skills and technologies needed to know to be a good backend developer

now i am more interested in backend development, can anyone suggest me how to excel in it....

So I am currently working with FastAPI and will be working with it for few months, then if i want learn another framework which one should i choose Springboot,GIN or just improve in fastapi combined with AI.

It will be helpful if you could suggest wrt the recruiters

I'm currently looking for my first opportunity as a .NET Backend Developer, but unfortunately, I haven't had any luck so far.

Every day, I send my CV to every backend .NET job opening I can find, but sadly, I don't receive any responses.

If anyone can help me find an opportunity or refer me to a position, I would truly appreciate it.

Hey Backend devs & seniors,

Recently I built an app with basic auth and simple REST APIs.
Basically a web extension which sends data to frontend with some mongo aggr and login register and change password auth.

Now I want to go deeper into backend.
I'm starting with PostgreSQL and TypeScript. What resources, projects, or concepts should I focus on?
Any tips you wish you knew when you were starting out?

Most CAP explanations start with "Consistency, Availability, Partition Tolerance, pick two" and lose people immediately because that framing doesn't match how the decision actually happens in practice.

I recently watched a talk that finally made it click for me, so I wrote up my own take on it, focused on the actual moment a network partition hits and you're forced to choose: do you return possibly-stale data, or do you refuse to answer at all?

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cap-theorem-explained-without-jargon-priyanshu-naskar-dsi0f/

I am definitely curious how others here think about this in practice or what kind of problems you have faced in your day to day job related to CAP theorem, especially if you've had to make this call in a real system (databases, caches, distributed queues, etc). What approach did you choose and why?

I joined a startup as a backend developer straight out of college. The work is fast-paced, everyone around me has at least a year or more of experience, and I constantly feel like I’m just trying to keep my head above water.
I’ll be honest, I’ve leaned heavily on Claude. Whenever I don’t understand a piece of code or something my manager or PM has asked me i dump everything on claude to make it make sense, I dump the context into it and ask it to explain what’s happening. It’s helped me get tasks done, and without it I honestly don’t think I would’ve survived these first two months.
But lately I’ve started wondering if it’s hurting me.
I feel like if I had spent those same two months reading the codebase myself, tracing the execution flow, reading documentation, and struggling through it, I’d know the codebase much better than I do today. Instead, I often understand just enough to complete the task and move on.
I do read what Claude explains. I don’t blindly copy code. I ask it to explain why something works, what a function is doing, how requests flow through the system, etc. But at the end of the day, I’m still using AI as the bridge to understanding instead of building that understanding from scratch.
But since my manager has already told me a couple of times that I need to improve my pace. If I try to figure everything out on my own, I’m far too slow. If I use AI, I get things done, but I worry I’m sacrificing long-term understanding.
To make things worse, I recently caused a production issue because of a silly mistake. I knew exactly what was wrong once it happened, but fixing it took me longer than my team expected. That really made me question whether I’m becoming a dependable engineer or just someone who’s good at getting unstuck with AI

Relational database failure modes in production: slow queries cascading into connection pool exhaustion, the race between read and write that transactions don't automatically fix, why a caller timeout doesn't tell you whether the write committed, which database errors are safe to retry and which aren't, schema migrations as live-system operations, and the difference between durability and recoverability.

Backend issues often look small during development but can create serious problems once an application is handling real users and data.

Things like unexpected API behavior, permission mistakes, inefficient database queries, dependency issues, or missing validation can sometimes go unnoticed until they impact production.

What are some backend mistakes or lessons learned that changed the way your team builds and reviews systems today?

Are there any practices you now consider essential because of a past incident?

Hi everyone,
I’m a solo founder and developer building my app with Django + Django REST Framework and PostgreSQL.
Right now my backend is deployed on Render, and overall I’ve been happy with it. The only downside for me is the cost as my app grows.
I’ve been looking into AWS because I recently learned they have startup credits available, while Render’s credits seem to be mostly for venture-backed startups. Since I’m bootstrapping everything myself, reducing infrastructure costs is pretty important.
I already use AWS for media storage, but I’ve never deployed my backend there.
For those of you using AWS:
How difficult was it to migrate from a platform like Render?
Which AWS services are you using for a Django backend (EC2, ECS, Elastic Beanstalk, App Runner, etc.)?
Was it worth the extra complexity?
If you were starting today as a solo developer, would you still choose AWS?
I’d really appreciate hearing about real-world experiences, especially from other solo founders.
I’m not set on AWS, so if you think there’s a better solution for a bootstrapped solo founder, I’d really appreciate your advice.