The one all-around software developer who can do everything has long since ceased to exist. The multitude of programming languages and applications has brought such complexity with it that most coders specialize in one area, which they then do extremely well. After all, there is no longer one teacher in school who can safely teach all subjects, or one engineer who can do everything from Hochtief to road construction to ship and aircraft construction. Would you sit on an airplane that wasn’t designed by a specialist?
There are now an immense number of specializations in software development and IT. In the past, a distinction was primarily made between programming languages or rough areas of application. For example, you were a C++ application developer, system developer, or network administrator. In the meantime, however, so many different languages, frameworks, technologies,, and areas of application have emerged that this classification is no longer sufficient, and new distinctions and thus also new job titles have emerged. The areas most in demand today are frontend, backend,, and mobile. In addition, there are of course a variety of other disciplines that you often hear about, such as game development, DevOps, or data science.
Let’s stay with the most popular. What exactly do frontend, backend,, and mobile developers do? The tasks and expertise sometimes differ greatly. What are they, and would they suit you? We’ll introduce them to you hereso you can find out which career path as a software developer interests you the most.
The frontend developer deals with what you see as a user. Hence the name: frontend means front. In addition to programming, this includes topics such as UI (User Interface), UX (User Experience),, and the various interaction options for the user.
Literally, any developer who builds a user interface would be a frontend developer. However, these can be very different applications, from simple websites, to complex web applications with social features (see Facebook, Medium or Gmail), system applications (such as Microsoft Word) or apps on smartphones, to embedded applications (which run on ticket machines, for example). Experience has shown that frontend developers usually mean the developers who specializing the frontend part of web development.
The web development division is now so extensive and dominant in the software development industry that the job titles of frontend and backend developer have emerged from it. While the frontend developer is the web developer who builds the user interface, the backend developer is the one who takes care of server applications and databases, i.e. everything that you don’t see directly as a user. We will deal with this immediately afterwards.
The task of the frontend developer is primarily the design of the web interface with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Typically, a layout is specified by the designer, which is then to be technically implemented. Moreover, it’s not just about looks, but also about functionality. For example, what happens when the user clicks a button? Does a popup open, are you redirected to the next page, or is data even sent to a server? The frontend developer has to take care of that.
Connecting to a server application entails even more tasks. Here, for example, data must be exchanged via an API (Application Programming Interface, the interface to the server application). Should the user be able to log in? Then authentication must also be implemented in the frontend. The more elements and interactions a website contains, the more tasks and challenges await the frontend developer. There are already a lot of tools, libraries,, and frameworks that make certain tasks easier for the frontend developer.
The basics that every frontend developer must be able to do are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. HTML is a language that describes the basic structure of a website. It marks headings, paragraphs, links, images,, and much more. CSS is used for styling, i.e. design things such as coloring, placement, or spacing of HTML elements. JavaScript is the language that creates interaction. Unlike HTML and CSS, it’s a proper scripting language that allows you to use functions, if-then logic, and loops.
These three languages are surrounded by an extremely large community that has produced a comprehensive ecosystem of tools, frameworks, libraries and auxiliary languages over the past decades. The web is constantly evolving, and is constantly producing new standards and tools. HTML5 and CSS3, for example, are quite well-known as further developments of these longer-standing languages. The equivalent for JavaScript is ES6 (ECMAScript 6), the latest evolution of existing JavaScript standards.
Notable tools that a front-end developer should know about are, for example, the package manager npm, which can be used to structure projects and load libraries as dependencies ad-hoc, and SASS, LESS and Stylus as tools for CSS. JavaScript frameworks are also becoming more and more indispensable for frontend developers. Examples of this are React or Vue.js.
Furthermore, a frontend developer needs at least basic knowledge of how the Internet works. This includes basic protocols such as HTTP and SSH, knowledge of how to access APIs (Application Programming Interface) using the REST architecture, among other things, and basics in web security.
In addition to technical knowledge, a good frontend developer is also characterized by a flair for design and UX (user experience). After all, it is not only the function that makes a good web interface, but also its aesthetics and user-friendliness. Especially in small companies, it can happen from time to time that you don’t have ready-made designs available. Another indispensable soft skill is communication skills, because concepts, proposals,, and technical contexts often have to be discussed with the team, customers, and sometimes users.
From a subjective point of view, starting a career in frontend development is usually a bit easier than in backend development because you develop the things you see and thus have immediately visible feedback on your code. This makes the job description as a front-end developer very popular, but the competition is also correspondingly greater. However, there is still a large enough demand for frontend developers to accommodate just about any developer. And even though many frontend developers have a degree, the profession is still well suited for lateral entry, which is no longer uncommon in the industry.
In smaller companies, it can happen that both frontend and backend development are handled by the same developer. You may have already come across the phrase full-stack web developer. Full-stack means the combination of front-end and back-end development. Most of the time, however, backend development is done by someone else.
What a backend developer does is often less tangible because you don’t see it as directly as you do with a frontend developer. Backend is the umbrella term for the part of the applications behind the interface: the server-side software that manages data in a database and communicates with clients. Clients are the front-end applications: the websites, but also apps or system applications. Often the same backend is used for several clients that belong together. For example, the Twitter app accesses the same backend as the Twitter website.
Websites and web applications have evolved far from the initially static and dull structures they were at the beginning of personal computers and the Internet. Today, a website that attracts visitors must not only look appealing but also be able to run complex interactive applications, which include an entire system of server-side programs and databases.
The tasks of the backend developer are derived directly from this. He programs the server on which the data in databases are managed and the applications run. It provides an interface, an API, for clients to retrieve the data they need. In order to be able to deliver data for different clients (Twitter app and Twitter website as mentioned above) at the same time, an interface has been agreed upon.
The application on the server for the data interface is also called a service. If an excessive amount is to happen on the server, it is often divided between several small applications that communicate with each other. For example, a ticketing system needs to display available tickets, let the user log in, process the booking, assign the user their ticket, create user lists, validate tickets, and so on. Each of the tasks mentioned can run as a standalone service that communicates with the others. This division into smaller applications is called microservices.
Much of what a backend should be able to do no longer has to be written by the company itself but can be outsourced as cloud solutions, for example, to Firebase or Amazon Web Services (AWS). This concept is called serverless. Serverless is not necessarily an optimal name, as there is already a server available. But at least the backend developer doesn’t have to worry about it himself. The term has become commonplace.
While serverless architectures are often used by startups to save resources and time, outsourcing to third parties is usually out of the question for larger companies for various reasons. Even if parts of the server application, or certain services, are outsourced to serverless providers, a backend developer is still needed to integrate these parts into the overall application.
What the server application does is usually referred to as business logic. The word comes from the implementation of business processes in code. One example is payment processing in an online store, which is implemented as a backend service. However, the control of production and sales of a manufacturing company, for example, is also typically implemented with a comprehensive back-end application consisting of services and databases. The importance of the backend for the business makes it clear what responsibility comes with the job description of the backend developer and why good backend developers are desperately sought.
The path to becoming a finished backend developer is long. A good backend developer usually knows more than just one programming language. Typical languages in which backend applications are written are Java, Python, Ruby, .NET, Go and JavaScript. Most of the time, the backend developer uses a framework written in the appropriate language. Examples are Spring Boot for Java, Django for Python, Ruby on Rails for Ruby, or Node.js for JavaScript. These frameworks already come with a lot of functionality, so that the backend developer can concentrate on business logic. As a prospective backend developer, you usually specialize in one of the frameworks, but always keep your eyes open for other or new solutions.
A backend developer should also be well-versed in databases. This is a broad field of expertise, which we will only briefly touch on here. Usually, a distinction is made between relational databases and document-oriented databases. Relational databases are usually based on SQL, a structured query language, and store data in tables. Examples of this are MySQL or Oracle. Document-oriented databases store their data in documents, often in a JSON® structure. Examples are MongoDB or CouchDB. While relational databases dominate the world of large companies and enterprise software, document-oriented databases are now preferred in modern web development. A good backend developer should understand both concepts and be able to address the different databases with their code.
For the linking of backend and frontend, knowledge of the HTTP protocol and the REST architecture is also necessary for backend developers. Often, further knowledge about how the Internet works is also required, such as routing and TCP/IP, DNS and the various Internet protocols. In addition, a backend developer should be good at handling the command line.
The requirements for a backend developer are high. Accordingly, they are not a dime a dozen, but they are very popular. What do supply and demand teach us? The fewer there are and the more they are in demand, the better the chances of entry and also the possible salary. The salary is, on average, higher than that of the frontend developer. Beginners can expect to earn €2,700 – €3,500 gross per month, whereas experienced backend programmers in project management often earn more than €5,800.
And then there is a younger breed of developers that has developed rapidly and deserves its own category: the developer for mobile devices or mobile developers.
It is the year 11 A.I. (anno iPhone). Almost everyone has one: a so-called smartphone, whether an iPhone or Android phone. Many even have more than one, and tablets are just as much mobile devices. It is estimated that 55% of Internet use is now mobile instead of stationary from the desktop or laptop. It is therefore not surprising that a separate generation of developers is mainly concerned with client applications for mobile devices.
The mobile developer is busy building these apps. Apps need to be fast and simple applications that are written in lean code and require little data volume. A special feature of mobile devices is that they are in motion. Some of the most commonly used applications include GPS navigation and finding nearby places. On mobile devices, ease of use is essential. Writing is more difficult than on the desktop, so many things should work with a simple touch of the touchscreen. The screen size is also limited.
Android developers must be able to use Java. However, for about a year now, Kotlin has been the preferred language supported by the Android system. iOS developers need to be able to use Swift, and ideally Objective-C, which has been superseded by Swift but is still sometimes used in old apps.
When developing apps, the development environment is the most important tool. For Android, this is Android Studio; for iOS, XCode. It provides the necessary tools, such as the emulator for smartphones or graphical editors for designing layouts.
In contrast to web development, there are significant restrictions from the system or design recommendations for the visual presentation of the app. While the so-called Material Design is recommended and supported by default for Android, it is even relatively time-consuming for iOS to change the default design of the UI elements (user interface elements such as buttons, etc.). However, one of the recommended principles is to keep the design as similar as possible to what the user is used to. This means that the less you deviate from the standardized design, the better.
Most of the time, however, apps do not work in isolation on the device but retrieve data via the network connection. With WhatsApp, for example, the chat messages have to be loaded from the server to the phone, as well as outgoing messages from the mobile phone to the server. This means that both Android and iOS developers must be able to address APIs (server interfaces).
Since mobile devices are always on the move, it can happen more often that the network connection is interrupted and the smartphone is temporarily offline. For such situations, mobile developers have to deal with the issue of cache and offline functionality. For example, certain data can be stored in a small, local database and is available even if the connection is lost. Other solutions include certain content that is displayed as a substitute to tell the user that the app is currently not connected to the Internet.
Here, the developer must pay attention to a good architecture, because all these components need to be well managed so that the code remains clear and the functionality can be controlled. Frequently used architectures are Model-View-Controller (MVC), Model-View-Presenter (MVP), or Clean Architecture. A mobile developer should have studied the different architecture patterns in detail and know the most common ones.
However, the ecosystem is fast-moving, which means libraries quickly become obsolete. You have to constantly take care of the maintenance of the versions and keep yourself up to date with the latest technology. There are corresponding newsletters or news feeds for both platforms that you can use to keep up to date. For Android, Android Weekly is very popular, and for iOS, according to iOS Dev Weekly.
The field of development for mobile devices is relatively young but is growing extremely strong. Young talents are sought after by many companies that develop one or many apps. The starting salary of €2,600 – €3,300 gross per month is even better than that of the pure front-end developer. There are not yet quite as many specialists as in the web sector, so now is a good opportunity to get in.
There they are, the three most common types of software developers. Which one do you want to become?
We’re here to help you strategize, grow, and achieve unparalleled success for your business. Let’s make it happen together!
Accelerating growth with creative digital marketing strategies designed to enhance brand visibility, boost engagement, and drive sustained conversions for long-term success.
© Copyright 2025 Lineesh – All Rights Reserved.
