Hire a Back-End Developer

• Back end and back-end developers
  • What a back end is
  • What back-end developers do
  • What languages back-end developers use
  • What skills back-end developers have
• What to do if you need a back-end developer
  • Searching for a freelancer
  • Hiring a staff member
  • Outsourcing back-end development to a team
• Back-end developer labour market
  • How much back-end developers are paid in the UK
  • How much developers are paid in Russia

Back end and back-end developers

Web development has become a multilevel hierarchy-based process for quite long now, divided into two parts: front end and back end. A front end is a code executed in a browser that actuates website or web app display and ensures performance of all the elements across various devices, i.e. on the client side. A back end is the server rearward, or software and hardware base.

What a back end is

Primarily, a back end is a code executed on the server, from which a website or web app is uploaded. Also, a back end comprises databases of regularly updated websites:

• CMS: notes on content (article and news texts, their dates, categories, and tags), users, commenters, and comments;
• forums: user accounts, data on topics, posts, personal messages;
• online stores: customer accounts, data on products, stock, goods in cart, placed orders, and previous purchases.

Above all that, a back end includes algorithms driving powerful online platforms:

• social media: friend search, recommendations on noteworthy posts, hashtag accounting, community ranking; anti-spam facilities, machine-powered complaint and ad processing (before human review);
• exchanges: trade engine, order book, trade history;
• cloud storage services: resource distribution, reserving, data integrity protection, virus scanning.

A back end may be a two-level system — with an in-house front end and a lower-level back end. For instance, WordPress is a website’s back end; but, for the admin, editors, and authors, the system consists of a front end (a handy engine control or content panel) and another back end (plugins, system PHP files, and MySQL database). Let’s look at it from a wider perspective: a server on which a website or web app is hosted is a back end; hosting control panel is a back end’s front end, while no-GUI Linux is a back end’s back end.

So, a back end encompasses hundreds and thousands of behind-the-scene processes that convey the output through a front end. This means that everything visitors or users do not actually see but what is working, is what we call a back end. But, first, you need to find back-end developers who could establish and configure a back-end infrastructure.

What back-end developers do

These specialists develop and deploy the server side of web resources. They can create the basic logic and design the architecture of a projected web app from scratch, and then compose the algorithms that will power the whole system. In fact, server code scalability, performance, and security depend on how rationally back-end developers do what they do.

Back-end developers know their way around DBMSs and can easily relate a code to a database and write query handlers for it. They feel at home when working with web servers receiving http requests from a front end and yield http replies; thus, they can effortlessly create an app that would consider server configuration and capabilities. The same is true for application servers if we speak of high-load or mobile apps.

A back end is not limited to a website or web app itself. It also incorporates web services that connect to other websites, apps, and services. Here are some common examples: pingbacks and trackbacks in blogs, sharing on social media, reCAPTCHA, online payments. Not only can back-end developers establish interaction with third-party APIs, they also can design their own one to which other resources will refer.

Though a developers’ key duties are analysing and specifying requirements, designing and programming, they are often entrusted with testing, debugging, and code optimisation. Large-scale teams and IT enterprises have testers and special programmers assigned to perform such tasks. On the other hand, in small startups driven by two web developers (a front-end dev and back-end dev), who creates a code shall check and refine it. But, it is way more reasonable to delegate these tasks to another team as a fresh eye is better for detecting errors or suggesting improvements.

What languages back-end developers use

For every task, a dedicated programming language, on which a source code will be composed, is selected. For the purposes of creating a website’s back end, the most commonly used language is PHP, while web apps can be created on PHP or some other languages, including:

• ASP.NET;
• C++;
• Go (Golang);
• Java;
• Perl;
• Python;
• Ruby;
• Rust.

Here are programming languages and database management systems used on the server side of popular websites:

It’s not always that a back-end developer can handle most of the most common languages. However, what distinguishes a gift specialist is the ability to master a new language quickly and easily sort out the tasks when such a language is needed. That routine can be facilitated by universal development environments (Geany, IntelliJ IDEA, KDevelop, etc.) and cloud IDEs (AWS Cloud9 IDE, Codeanywhere, Repl.it, etc.).

Some auxiliary tools can also catalyse development. They include design and programming patterns, frameworks, and libraries (which are unique for every language). This is why any developer uses at least one toolset that helps them deliver on time, without hampering other team members’ work.

What skills back-end developers have

Professionals who often deal with relational DBMSs can handle a structured query language (SQL). Even those working with a NoSQL DBMS need to know what to do with this language as it is also supported in such systems. Those who are annoyed by and tired of the SQL have mastered and already use object-relational mapping (ORM).

Data fed to an application programming interface are converted into a specific format. Back-end developers who regularly configure or maintain APIs, get on well with an extensible markup language (XML), data interchange format JSON, software architectural style REST, and SOAP protocol.

One couldn’t handle any web server without dedicated server software, so every back-end dev is well versed in Apache HTTP Server, Lighttpd, Nginx. Even curious internet surfers have a rough idea about those programs as they came across various 5xx errors on faulty websites and would try to find out a cause. To work with application servers, professionals master such software as Google App Engine, IBM WebSphere, Java EE, Zend Server.

When a back-end dev needs to check performance of a web product on a local machine, they may use various server software packages — WAMP, LAMP, MAMP, XAMPP — depending on the operating system. They often deal with virtual and dedicated servers, so they automatically study and master hosting control panels, virtualization, containerization, and Linuxes. But, you shouldn’t make them administer servers to save hosting costs.

The same could be said for a front end, but the web dev industry wouldn’t know such a thing as full stack. Full-stack developers are back-end specialists who can develop a front end, and vice versa.

What to do if you need a back-end developer

It’s no easy thing to hire an experienced back-end developer. Some try to source them on freelance marketplaces, others on HR portals, still others think it’s more reasonable to delegate development to a web studio team. None of these options is the best, so let’s look into each of them.

Searching for a freelancer

First, a company needs to find unemployed back-end specialists on service marketplaces like Fiverr, Guru, PeoplePerHour, Upwork. Then, an HR manager studies back-end developers’ portfolios and feedback. The next stage is negotiating on the scope of work, setting out the tasks (you’d better use Terms of Reference) and terms. After that, a customer can place an official order through a marketplace, with exact terms and specifications. Otherwise, you can publish an order first, and then process the requests following the same principle.

Benefits:

1. Low service cost due to dumping by novice freelancers.
2. Rich choice of specialists with good credit and hefty portfolio.

Shortcomings:

• while basic services are not that costly, additional ones may be far more expensive;
• freelancers often work for several customers at a time, without being concentrated on a single project;
• you can barely manage a freelancer: one may disappear at any moment;
• more dependable freelancers often deliver raw materials to make it to a deadline and then request more time to finish.

Hiring a staff member

An employer creates a position on an HR resource like Adzuna, Indeed, Monster, Reed. Then, they flick through requests and study CVs of professional back-end developers. Alternatively, the employer can headhunt on the same portals or LinkedIn. After that, the employer asks a candidate for an interview where the latter would tell about themselves and learn more about what they need to do as a back-end dev in the employer’s company. All this looks like traditional employment.

Benefits:

1. Easy to manage a specialist who must be dependable and responsible.
2. Uniform rate for any scope of development, within a specialist’s competence and time.

Shortcomings:

• paperwork, taxes, and insurance fees;
• a supervisor or HR manager must provide an employee with a workplace and computer, and ensure HSE compliance;
• if there is no work to assign an employee with, they will remain idle; to avoid this, you will need another specialist (a manager or team lead) to create and describe tasks;
• an employee may get hand in what they do and leave your company for another one that offers better compensation or more exciting work; thus, you need to retain a specialist with a higher salary or career perspectives.

Outsourcing back-end development to a team

This is something in between the first two options. Engaging a built-up remote team, a customer gets themselves a bunch of temporary employees. They source not all the specialists a remote team has but only those who they actually need, with an opportunity to involve someone they don’t need first, on a later stage. A third-party team only comprises verified and practised back-end developers. Moreover, they have some experience in working together, so there is no risk of sabotage.

Benefits:

1. Hourly rate of every specialist.
2. A team lead is responsible for managing and controlling their subordinates.
3. Proper development planning, regular sprint reports on stages.
4. Conclusion of a contract, receipt of an Acceptance Act, so that expenses can be deducted in accounting and tax.

The only shortcoming: in this case, the cost of services is higher compared to involving a single freelancer. However, it is still far cheaper than keeping employees.

Nikita D., middle full-stack developer

• CSS
• HTML
• JavaScript
• MySQL
• PHP
• Python
• UI
• UX

Development experience: 4 years. Skills in 3 programming languages, HTML, and CSS. Can design interfaces. Good at app architecture. Can handle popular CMSs and DBMSs.

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Artjom S., middle back-end developer

• Perl
• Python
• Ruby
• SQL
• XML

Development experience: 5 years. Skills in 3 programming languages, SQL, and XML. Can analyse requirements and design applications. Well versed in testing and debugging. Familiar with popular frameworks and libraries.

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Raimond V., senior back-end developer

• Java
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• XML
• XQuery

Development experience: 7 years. Skills in 4 programming languages, XML, and XQuery. Can design, optimise, and audit applications. Can handle web servers and application servers. Familiar with version control systems and cloud platforms.

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How much Polygant’s back-end development services cost