Front-end vs. back-end developers

Jakob asked me a question this evening: What is the difference between front-end and back-end developers? Not long after I was on my way home and couldn’t stop thinking about it. I’ve never thought much about it before, yet I am convinced there is a difference. Also, I have a feeling that there must be a different answer for each developer in the world.

Let’s start by looking at some stereotypical differences.

Front-end devs don’t unit test

…whereas back-end devs take pride in their unit tests and test environment. In my experience this is definitely true. Front-end code is very difficult to test and those tests are even worse to maintain. It’s a fulltime job. However, you have always been able to separate most logic from code-behind files and other classes into libraries that are testable. Maybe front-end devs just don’t care as much about testability or are they more realistic in how they spend their time?

Back-end devs are more low-level

Threading and memory pointers are not interesting for most front-end developer. Back-end devs on the other hand knows all about it and how to utilize it to create scalable solutions. Front-end devs don’t like operating on such a low level of abstraction and feels the platform should take care of it, so they don’t have to. Otherwise you’ll never get anything done. Some are extraordinary productive on a low level and some are equally productive but higher on the stack. Does this separate front-end from back-end devs?

Front-end devs make more mistakes

Back-end devs don’t just jump into development, but thoroughly sketch out every detail to avoid unforeseen scenarios. Front-end devs do just the opposite – they need to create and they need their endorphins fast. I’ve heard this many times before and I don’t agree. There are just as many ugly pitfalls by rushing development in the front-end as in the back-end and front-end devs knows this. Still, they need their fast track to the endorphins, but does it collide with the quality?

Back-end devs hates the client-side

If there is one thing back-end devs hate more than Cirque du Soleil, it’s JavaScript, stylesheets and HTML. Valid XHTML only makes sense to back-end devs if they have to parse it as XML. Front-end devs spend hours on end to perfect every pixel and even longer to validate their stylesheet and XHTML even though the average user wouldn’t notice. Say cross-browser to a back-end dev and he shakes his head at the stupidity thinking that you could just have made a table design and there wouldn’t be any problems. Is this a way of thinking about quality?

A likely answer

When I was hired by ZYB, my boss Ole Kristensen asked me if I considered myself as a front-end or a back-end developer. I answered that I thought of myself as a back-end dev but my heart was in the front-end. Maybe the answer has nothing to do with technicalities but is as simple as what you love the most.