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Backend Engineering Has CHANGED - Here’s Everything You Need to Know — Transcript

by Eric Roby · 3,741 words · 573 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00Backend development has completely
0:01changed since [music] 2020. If you're
0:03thinking about becoming a back-end
0:05engineer or you're already one trying to
0:06figure out what's next, this video will
0:08give you everything you need to know.
0:10Today, I'm going to break down exactly
0:11what back-end engineering looks like
0:13this year and [music] what you can
0:14expect going into the next year. We'll
0:16cover five main areas that will expand
0:19beyond just coding and where this field
0:21is heading for the future. Whether
0:22you're new to programming or have
0:24experience, this video will be explained
0:26in pretty simple layman terms so
0:28everyone can follow along. So, let's
0:30start with what back-end engineers even
0:32do. Before we talk about jobs and career
0:34path, let's make sure we understand what
0:35back-end engineers actually do like
0:38every day. Think of a restaurant. When
0:40you sit down and order food, you see the
0:42waiter, the dining room, and maybe you
0:44can have a peek into the kitchen. But
0:46there's a whole world you don't see. the
0:48supply chain of getting the ingredients,
0:50the inventory management, maybe the
0:52payment processing or the scheduling of
0:54all the workers. You can think of this
0:56as the back-end engineers or like the
0:58backend application on how a restaurant
1:00functions. Or when you open up Instagram
1:03and you scroll through your feed and you
1:04see all the photos and videos, but
1:06behind the scenes, back-end engineers
1:09built that system. The backend engineers
1:11themselves store millions of photos and
1:13videos. They decide which posts that you
1:15see first. They handle millions of
1:17people using the application at the same
1:19time. They also are the ones that you
1:21know send the notification to your phone
1:23or send notifications to other people
1:25and they just keep your account secure.
1:27A back-end engineer's typical day may
1:29include like writing code that processes
1:31customers payments or fixing bugs that
1:33slow down the website and building new
1:35features that the UI team needs to be
1:38able to integrate into their
1:39application. So back engineers write
1:41code, but they also solve puzzles. They
1:43figure out how to make the systems work
1:46faster and handle more users and stay
1:48online really even when things can go
1:51wrong. So, since we know what back-end
1:53engineering now is, let's go ahead and
1:54just kind of look at the job market. The
1:56tech job market has been wild, like so
1:59wild over the last few years. You've
2:01probably heard about layoffs at big tech
2:03companies like Meta, Amazon, and Google.
2:05You might be wondering if back-end
2:08engineering is still even like a safe
2:10career choice. And here's what I think.
2:12I think backend engineering remains one
2:14of the most stable and in demand parts
2:17of tech there is. So you might be
2:19thinking like hey Eric why why do you
2:20think backend engineers are so important
2:22and in such high demand? The reason to
2:24me is pretty simple. Backend engineers
2:27are too important to cut corners on.
2:29When a company's backend fails,
2:32literally everything fails. The entire
2:34application, their entire tech is down.
2:36I'll give you an example. In 2023, a
2:38popular food delivery app had their
2:40backend crash during a busy Friday
2:42night. I think it was probably after
2:44trying to deploy something for 3 hours.
2:46Nobody could place orders. The company
2:48lost millions of dollars and thousands
2:51of restaurants lost money, too. Having
2:53the system go down is always more
2:55expensive than having enough back-end
2:57engineers to support what's going on.
2:59Companies know that reliable back-end
3:01systems make or break their systems. I
3:03mean, like literally everyone knows that
3:05they're a tech company now. So even when
3:06they're like cutting corners in other
3:08areas of the business, they know that
3:10they still need to keep their engineers
3:11around to keep their systems running.
3:13Now with that though, even though the
3:15job trends are looking good for back-end
3:17engineers, the bar has risen to get in.
3:20So what that really means now is that
3:21companies are just pickier about who
3:23they can hire. It's not enough just to
3:25know how to code anymore. Like this
3:26isn't like 2010. If you just know how to
3:28code, you're going to get a job. Modern
3:29backend engineers need to understand,
3:31you know, a couple important things.
3:33One, they need to know how to write code
3:35that works. Two, they need to be able to
3:37design systems that don't break when it
3:39scales from like thousands to tens of
3:42thousands of people. They need to know
3:43how to find and fix problems quickly
3:45when things can go wrong, and how to
3:47deploy and work with cloud architecture
3:49like Amazon Web Services or Google
3:51Cloud. A recruiter I spoke with named
3:53Amanda said she's seeing companies take
3:55longer to make hiring decisions.
3:57Recently they're doing more technical
3:59interviews and asking candidates to
4:00solve real problems not just like answer
4:04questions. So instead of just being like
4:05hey what's this do in Python or what's
4:07this do in Java it's how can we build
4:09this application and what are the steps
4:10you would do. But on the flip side if
4:13you can demonstrate these skills
4:14companies will compete for you. Good
4:16backend engineers are still hard to find
4:19and you can see just in jobs that are
4:21out there everyone wants a great senior
4:23engineer. So, this brings me to my next
4:25question, which is what types of
4:27companies are looking for these great
4:30back-end engineers? And the good news is
4:33that backend engineers work everywhere.
4:35Like, they're not just in tech
4:37companies. They're literally like in
4:38every company you can imagine.
4:40Traditional companies like banks, they
4:43need engineers to build secure payment
4:44systems. Hospitals need engineers to
4:47manage patient data. Retail companies
4:49need engineers to handle like online
4:51shopping and e-commerce. Insurance
4:53companies need engineers to build
4:55platformers where they can process
4:56claims. Even local governments hire
4:59backend engineers to build you know
5:01citizen services and you know websites
5:03for people. This diversity means more
5:06job opportunities and more stable
5:08careers. If one industry slows down, you
5:11can often find work in another industry.
5:13And that's all great news for any kind
5:15of engineer. But backend engineers do
5:18need to know way more than just code
5:20like I was mentioning before. And this
5:21is probably the biggest change in
5:23backend engineering over the past few
5:25years. The job has expanded, you know,
5:27beyond just writing code. We can kind of
5:30think of this as like two separate
5:31paths. So there's the old way of doing
5:33it and the new way. 5 years ago, back
5:36engineering worked like an assembly
5:38line. Like if you if you're in like the
5:39manufacturing world, you would be able
5:41to like write your code, hand it off to
5:43the DevOps team. They would figure out
5:45how to deploy it live for the world to
5:47use. If something broke, they might give
5:49it back to the dev where they have a bug
5:51ticket and they might try and fix it a
5:53little bit and that process would kind
5:54of repeat. Today, backend engineers are
5:56expected to kind of own their entire
5:58work from start to finish. And so, let
6:00me now break down what that kind of
6:02looks like. So, before you just wrote
6:04the code, now you might need to write
6:05the infrastructure. You don't just write
6:07the application code. You also need to
6:09write the code. So like infrastructure
6:11as code to tell the computer systems
6:13where your application is, how it should
6:15run, how much memory it needs, how to
6:17handle traffic spikes. For example, it
6:19may look like this like first you write
6:21the actual application code. You still
6:22have to write the code, right? That
6:24processes like the user's requests. Then
6:26you have to write all the configuration
6:28files that tells like Amazon Web
6:30Services, AWS exactly how to run that
6:32application, like which services to spin
6:33up, which services to use, how many
6:35copies to run, how to distribute traffic
6:38between them. you may need to do all
6:39that kind of stuff. Now, another thing
6:41that's becoming really popular in
6:42backend engineering is containerization
6:44with Docker. If you don't know what
6:45Docker is, it's like a shipping
6:46container for software. So, like just
6:48like how shipping containers work for
6:49like moving goods anywhere in the world
6:51using like we're we're using like the
6:53same system for like software. So, you
6:55you can contain your software to be
6:57deployed on any operating system.
6:59Backend engineers now package their code
7:02in these Docker containers. This means
7:04that the code works exactly the same
7:06whether it's running on your laptop or
7:08on a test environment or you know live
7:10on production servers that customers
7:12use. You may also need to manage like
7:14the entire CI/CD pipelines and CI/CD
7:16stands for continuous integration and
7:18continuous deployment. This is kind of
7:19the the automation system that takes
7:22your code from your computer and puts it
7:24live for customers to use. So it might
7:25be like a process that when you deploy
7:27to Git, we run our tests. We then deploy
7:29that to a different environment and it's
7:31like process called continuous
7:33integration and continuous delivery. Now
7:35backend engineers who embrace you know
7:37like these broader rules advance faster
7:39in their careers. Companies value people
7:41who can build something and own
7:44everything from start to finish and make
7:46it reliable for customers. And if you're
7:48still believing that you know that's not
7:50the backend responsibility it it's
7:52changing. I can promise you backend
7:54engineers are becoming the ones
7:55responsible for all of that. But this
7:58also means that the learning curve is
8:00steeper, right? You have to learn all
8:01this stuff. You can't just learn one
8:02programming language anymore. AI, you
8:04know, is helping write code and making
8:06that easier. But you still need to
8:08understand like systems, cloud services,
8:10monitoring tools, and all the different
8:12types of deployment processes. The good
8:14news from all that is engineers who
8:16develop these skills and can kind of
8:19work in all these areas become extremely
8:21valuable and you know, almost become
8:23irreplaceable. But with that, let's kind
8:25of switch context. And now let's talk
8:27about the essential skills that are
8:29needed for modern backend engineers kind
8:31of outside of what we were just talking
8:32about. Kind of going a little bit
8:33deeper. And if you're thinking about
8:35becoming a backend engineer or you want
8:36to advance in your career, here are the
8:39skills that matter most this year and
8:41definitely going into next year. You
8:43need to be really good at least one
8:45backend programming language. And you
8:47know, if you're if you're not familiar
8:48with the different languages to pick
8:49from, Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, C,
8:52Rust, I mean, there's so many. I'd
8:54recommend choosing one of them going
8:56allin. Every backend system also stores
8:58data somewhere, right? You need to
9:00understand how to write queries to get
9:02data quickly from databases. How to
9:04design database schemas that perform
9:06well. Now, for this, I typically
9:09recommend SQL and a database like
9:11PostgrSQL. APIs, which are known as like
9:13application programming interfaces, are
9:15how different parts of software talk to
9:18each other and are integrated. So
9:19backend engineers typically design and
9:21build APIs that mobile apps or websites
9:25and other systems use to get data and
9:27perform actions. Also, most companies
9:29run their backend systems on cloud
9:30platforms. And if you're not familiar
9:32with cloud platforms, I highly highly
9:34highly recommend learning at least one
9:36of them good enough, which is like AWS,
9:38which is probably the biggest and most
9:40popular. Google Cloud Platform, which is
9:42normally known as GCP, it's growing
9:45rapidly. and Microsoft Azure which is
9:47very popular among Microsoft products.
9:50And on top of that, you probably also
9:52want to know some system design. This is
9:54the ability to plan like different parts
9:56of larger applications together. And the
9:58system and design really includes like
10:01how to split a larger application into
10:04smaller manageable pieces. How to handle
10:06a bunch of users without the system
10:08slowing down. How to store and process
10:10large amounts of data efficiently. You
10:12need to learn system design. And and
10:14lastly, you also need to know git and
10:16version control. Git is how engineers
10:18track changes to their code and
10:19collaborate with other teammates. Every
10:21back-end engineer needs to be
10:22comfortable with git. Now, it can change
10:25like GitHub, Bitbucket, none of that
10:27really matters, but you need to be
10:28comfortable with Git itself. So, let's
10:29talk about like the career paths and
10:31backend engineering. So, it's not all
10:33just like backend engineers all do the
10:35same thing. They have different career
10:37paths. And here are the main directions
10:39you typically go if you're a backend
10:41engineer. There's the technical career
10:44track. This path focuses more on
10:46becoming an expert at building and
10:48designing systems. This is like your
10:50traditional flow that you see kind of
10:52everywhere where you go from like junior
10:53software engineer to mid engineer to
10:56senior to staff to principal. And that's
10:59usually like the flow. Now every company
11:02will have different items like maybe
11:03distinguish at the end but at the end of
11:05the day each level you take on harder
11:07technical challenges and you mentor less
11:10experienced engineers and you might be
11:12working on more broader company
11:14technical paths. Now if you don't want
11:15to be an individual contributor there's
11:17usually the management track. Um this
11:19path involves like leading teams and
11:21engineers and usually this becomes an
11:24option once you hit senior as an
11:26individual contributor. So I'm not going
11:28to go through that whole like junior mid
11:29again. It's usually kind of starts at
11:30the senior level and then you can become
11:32like an engineering manager, maybe
11:34director of engineering, VP of
11:36engineering. It's usually like the
11:38business and people path for this one.
11:40But you still need to have strong
11:41technical skills, but you're more
11:43managing people plan projects and make
11:46strategic decisions instead of like
11:48being like the person focused on like
11:50the tech of whatever you're building.
11:52And then there's also what I'm going to
11:54call like the architecture path or
11:56architecture track. This path focuses on
11:59designing large complex system and kind
12:01of also starts after senior but you're
12:03not actually writing the code. You're
12:05more like designing systems. So you
12:06might start as a senior engineer then
12:08you might go into like the application
12:09architecture. There's also like a
12:11solutions architect which is a little
12:12bit different more salesy but then they
12:14kind of go into you know staff
12:15architecture principle as well. And
12:17architecture works with multiple teams.
12:19So they don't just work on one team.
12:20They usually work on multiple teams to
12:22make sure everything is connected and
12:24following the right processes and
12:26culture choices for tech within that
12:28company. Now there are some specialized
12:30areas too. So like outside of that
12:32there's like data engineering, machine
12:34learning, internet of things, AI, all of
12:37these still fall under that backend
12:40engineering umbrella. So with all this
12:42like what does the future of back-end
12:44engineering look like? So based on the
12:46current trends that I'm seeing and you
12:48know talking to engineers at companies
12:50of all sizes, here's what I'm seeing.
12:53The most important thing is artificial
12:54intelligence integration. AI isn't
12:57replacing back-end engineers. It's
12:59changing what they do, but backend
13:01engineers are now building systems that
13:04aren't just CRUD apps, right? They're
13:06building systems that use AI for
13:08automatic decisions. They're using AI to
13:10process amounts of data that AI systems
13:12need. They need to be able to handle the
13:14increased computing power that AI
13:16requires if you're creating your own
13:17model. And then pretty much all
13:19applications here that are dealing with
13:20LLMs need to learn how to integrate
13:22these LLMs into their applications. So
13:24like building agentic AI systems are
13:26going to be a top priority in the near
13:28future where I truly believe almost all
13:31systems will integrate similar to like
13:33how all systems currently use the
13:35internet today. Now on top of that
13:37there's also something called
13:37distributed systems. companies are
13:39breaking their larger monolith
13:41applications into smaller independent
13:44services. So instead of like one giant
13:47application that does everything,
13:49companies may start building dozens of
13:52smaller services that each do one thing
13:54well. Now this approach makes systems a
13:57little bit more flexible, maybe a little
13:59bit more reliable, but it also adds like
14:01another level of complexity. But with
14:03the rise of AI, I think they're going to
14:05become even more popular. back engineers
14:07needed to learn how to build these
14:08distributed systems because like a lot
14:10of these AI services are their own
14:12service that integrates with their
14:13application already. So I could see how
14:14that just kind of starts creating a wave
14:17of multiple you know services for
14:19applications. Now users are also slowly
14:22expecting instant responses like they
14:24want notifications immediately. They
14:25want real-time updates and systems that
14:27react to changes as they happen. This
14:30really means that real-time data is
14:31going to be very important for back-end
14:33engineers and that they need to build
14:35more eventdriven systems. So systems
14:38that like automatically respond to
14:40events like when the user places an
14:41order or the inventory is running low or
14:43without waiting for someone to like
14:45manually check something. I think the
14:47key here is two things just automation
14:49and fast responses. Now the last thing
14:52AI will bring though to the table is um
14:55new opportunities for security and
14:56privacy. LLMs when integrated into your
14:59application can cause crazy security
15:01leaks, especially if you implement it
15:03into like a rag system or you're giving
15:05it data. And there's going to be a huge
15:07huge huge push for backend engineers
15:09that really understand how they can make
15:11MCPS and chat bots and everything
15:13significantly safer for integration
15:15within their application. So, if you're
15:17wanting one of these careers, what do
15:20companies look for when they're wanting
15:21to hire a back-end engineer? I mean,
15:24understanding what employers want can
15:26help you focus your learning and really
15:29just overall improve your chances of
15:31getting a job. So, here's the technical
15:33skills. So, we're going to kind of break
15:34it up into multiple different skills.
15:35Here's the technical skills that
15:36companies care about. Number one is
15:38always problem solving ability. Can you
15:40break down complex problems into
15:41manageable pieces? How's your code? Does
15:44your code have good code quality? Do you
15:45write clean code, maintainable code that
15:47other engineers can, you know, read even
15:50if you're using AI? And then also system
15:52thinking. Can you understand how
15:53different parts of a system work
15:55together? And then like if there is a
15:57bug, are you able to debug? Can you find
15:59and fix issues quickly when things go
16:01wrong? Employees value candidates who
16:04have these. But there's also some like
16:06bonus points, you know, characteristics
16:08that they also really look for. Like can
16:10you build and deploy real applications
16:12that people use? Like have you deployed
16:13before? Have you ever worked with
16:15production systems that handle like real
16:17data and real user traffic? Have you
16:20ever experienced troubleshooting issues
16:22in like a live environment by looking at
16:24like logs? Are you able to understand
16:26how you know the systems can scale? If
16:28the application grows, how you can grow
16:29with it? Now, the good news is that most
16:31of this can be learned. That is why I'm
16:33such a big advocate of building side
16:35projects because building side projects
16:37can teach you so much. But those are the
16:39technical skills. Companies also look
16:41for soft skills because technical skills
16:43are absolutely not everything. And
16:45people hate talking about soft skills in
16:47tech for some reason, but they're so so
16:48important. You need to have
16:49communication. Can you explain technical
16:51concepts to non-technical members? Can
16:54you work effectively with like designers
16:56and product managers and other
16:57engineers? And do you have a learning
16:59mindset? Are you curious and willing to
17:01learn new technologies to really keep
17:04yourself growing? And you lastly really
17:06need to have ownership mentality. You
17:07need to be able to take responsibility
17:09for what you build and for what you
17:11agree to and can you push through all
17:13the way to completion. And with that
17:15though, there's usually some common
17:17challenges that back-end engineers run
17:19into. So, let's kind of go through those
17:20and how to overcome them because being a
17:22backend engineer is not easy. Um,
17:24there's some common challenges and those
17:26would and that would be like imposture
17:28syndrome is probably the biggest one.
17:29That's when many backend engineers feel
17:31like they don't know enough or they're
17:33not qualified for their role. This is
17:36normal. Technology moves so fast.
17:38There's always a new framework or tool
17:39that you've never heard of. You can't
17:41know everything. The biggest thing you
17:42can have is just a learning, you know,
17:44having continuous learning, but going
17:46completely deep in one area and knowing
17:48that you can learn and do anything. They
17:50also want you to be able to deal with
17:51complex systems. So, modern backend
17:53systems can be incredibly complex. It
17:56it's easy to feel overwhelmed. So, you
17:58need to be able to break down these
17:59complex systems into like smaller
18:01services and be able to understand, you
18:03know, one component at a time to see how
18:05everything's working. And kind of back
18:07to like the very first one of imposter
18:08syndrome. Try your best to stay updated
18:11with you know emerging technology
18:13especially like AI right now there's so
18:15many things to understand like open AI
18:17claw gemini all these like video
18:20creation AI tools like there's so so
18:21much AI is definitely revolutionizing
18:24things. So don't be scared of it.
18:25Instead we we need to be able to embrace
18:27it. Backend engineering is a rewarding
18:29career guys. Like you definitely want to
18:31get into it if you haven't. But it's
18:33really for people who enjoy building
18:35complex systems. You know, you you like
18:37being able to impact millions of
18:38people's lives. Um you're a continuous
18:41learner and you can handle working with
18:44abstract systems and abstract ideas. And
18:46when and when you match those all
18:48together into a job, the satisfaction is
18:50unreal. So, good luck and hopefully you
18:52enjoyed the video and was able to learn
18:54something. and I'll see you in the

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