The merger of the frontend and backend world?
Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2006 1:54 pm
I'm curious about this because I see more and more backend development jobs (where your primary role is PHP or whatever coding and database management/development) requiring the knowledge of Flash (and I mean advanced Flash... ActionScripting).
Now, I always have looked at it from this perspective like I'm sure many others have also: there is frontend stuff, and then there is backend stuff. The frontend guys do their thing, the backend guys do theirs. Not really interacting in each others development worlds, but of course working together on a project to achieve the goal of project completion.
I know companies out there may be tight on resources and can't afford to employ both a frontend guy and a backend guy, but don't they realize they are setting a dangerous precedent with such a requirement? I felt it was that because I firmly believed in specialization. You have your strengths, and you have related skills/interests in your field (backend or frontend), you work with that and you work to develop the related skills/interests.
I believed the more you branch out (especially when you cross the frontend/backend border), the less time you have to seriously work with each of the skills you have and that of course means, the less time you have to develop and fine tune these skills for maximum efficiency when you work with them in a project.
But a while ago I eased up on that theory and I finally picked up a Flash development book. I admit, it was due largely to the fact that I've seen so much potential great opportunities out of my grasp because I lacked serious advanced frontend development skills because of my specialization in backend fields.
I'm about 1/3 into the book and it's going alright. But I was talking to a Flash guy who also does PHP. He told me he regrets going into Flash also because frontend work is more of a challenge than backend. And it's even more of a challenge when you have to do frontend on top of the backend stuff. It's so, he thinks, because frontend stuff is largely about creativity, there isn't a set algorithm for the process and there isn't the ability to come up with an algorithm for a process and it isn't just a matter of doing the work after you get the algorithm. It's about being different than the competition because it's all about appearance. It's about pleasing the client. It's about cross-platform compliance. It's about making the system user-friendly. It's about making the design more and more appealing with flashy graphics, and etc. But the main thing he felt was bad about it was the fact that most of the work he did was frontend stuff now and not the backend stuff, and his passion for web development came from the backend stuff, and that's where the enjoyment really came out of.
Now I started off doing just static sites with graphics, so I didn't start off with database development and Windows programming or anything, but I'm with him about backend being more enjoyable than frontend. Not necessarily more easy, because programming isn't exactly a walk in the park all the time, but it's definitely more fun to me than frontend work.
So to finish off this rant, my poll question is, if you were able to learn advanced frontend development with hopes of landing more jobs, would you take on that challenge, or would you stick to backend development primarily for whichever reason (more enjoyment, specialization benefits, etc)?
Now, I always have looked at it from this perspective like I'm sure many others have also: there is frontend stuff, and then there is backend stuff. The frontend guys do their thing, the backend guys do theirs. Not really interacting in each others development worlds, but of course working together on a project to achieve the goal of project completion.
I know companies out there may be tight on resources and can't afford to employ both a frontend guy and a backend guy, but don't they realize they are setting a dangerous precedent with such a requirement? I felt it was that because I firmly believed in specialization. You have your strengths, and you have related skills/interests in your field (backend or frontend), you work with that and you work to develop the related skills/interests.
I believed the more you branch out (especially when you cross the frontend/backend border), the less time you have to seriously work with each of the skills you have and that of course means, the less time you have to develop and fine tune these skills for maximum efficiency when you work with them in a project.
But a while ago I eased up on that theory and I finally picked up a Flash development book. I admit, it was due largely to the fact that I've seen so much potential great opportunities out of my grasp because I lacked serious advanced frontend development skills because of my specialization in backend fields.
I'm about 1/3 into the book and it's going alright. But I was talking to a Flash guy who also does PHP. He told me he regrets going into Flash also because frontend work is more of a challenge than backend. And it's even more of a challenge when you have to do frontend on top of the backend stuff. It's so, he thinks, because frontend stuff is largely about creativity, there isn't a set algorithm for the process and there isn't the ability to come up with an algorithm for a process and it isn't just a matter of doing the work after you get the algorithm. It's about being different than the competition because it's all about appearance. It's about pleasing the client. It's about cross-platform compliance. It's about making the system user-friendly. It's about making the design more and more appealing with flashy graphics, and etc. But the main thing he felt was bad about it was the fact that most of the work he did was frontend stuff now and not the backend stuff, and his passion for web development came from the backend stuff, and that's where the enjoyment really came out of.
Now I started off doing just static sites with graphics, so I didn't start off with database development and Windows programming or anything, but I'm with him about backend being more enjoyable than frontend. Not necessarily more easy, because programming isn't exactly a walk in the park all the time, but it's definitely more fun to me than frontend work.
So to finish off this rant, my poll question is, if you were able to learn advanced frontend development with hopes of landing more jobs, would you take on that challenge, or would you stick to backend development primarily for whichever reason (more enjoyment, specialization benefits, etc)?