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Yes. I'd be very careful about your wording/intent around nothing front end. Whenever I interview developers(back end, full stack, front end) it's a little bit

Yes. I'd be very careful about your wording/intent around nothing front end. Whenever I interview developers(back end, full stack, front end) it's a little bit of a concern if someone has no interest in learning the mechanics of the opposite side. My personal opinion, n=1, is that to be a great back-end developer you should have a solid understanding of front end architecture and design. Granted, zero wrong with a candidate letting me know that he/she does not want to work on the front end but with the understanding that there may come a time where some minor front end/full Stack projects may be needed, and on a case by case basis I may ask them to help out. Just looking out for you, as I think if you did some front end side projects (simple to do apps, crud apps, or anything like that) it'd make you a much better backend developer. Even just a simple Django or flask app with angular, or some basic JS/jQuery would show you some of the pitfalls of the front end and how to design your APIs, services/microservices in a way that helps out your front end teammates consuming them. As for Portland, I believe LaunchPad or Smarsh is based out of Portland, which are pretty cool companies to work for. Tl;dr . Yes, people look for backend developers a lot. Doing some front end side projects(small crud apps) will make you a better back end developer. Best of luck!!

EduardoBautista 10y ago
If you require front end then you are obviously not his target employer. There plenty of companies that would hire a backend only developer.
- brogrammernot 10y ago
  That's not what I said. We never require front end work from someone who only wants to do back end work. My point was if you have intermediate backend programming ability with a DBA background and you're concerned about getting a backend role you should be careful, yet clear about what you're willing to do. Generally speaking, if a candidate comes across as willing to help out on a case by case basis but the vast majority of their workload is backend that's an easier hire by far. Is the trade-off of a potential 95/5 split of time worth it to the developer? That's a personal decision to the developer. Unless you're never going to be writing code that is directly consumed by a front end or full Stack developer it is a good idea/practice to understand basics of the front end. So yes, you are correct that if the poster never was willing to touch the front end he'd be harder to hire for the company but that's just because we want people to be open to new technology and the full Stack. Either way, I think it'd be unwise to not learn basics of the opposite side you're on to stay relevant and be an attractive hire. N=1.

EduardoBautista 10y ago

If you require front end then you are obviously not his target employer. There plenty of companies that would hire a backend only developer.

brogrammernot 10y ago
That's not what I said. We never require front end work from someone who only wants to do back end work. My point was if you have intermediate backend programming ability with a DBA background and you're concerned about getting a backend role you should be careful, yet clear about what you're willing to do. Generally speaking, if a candidate comes across as willing to help out on a case by case basis but the vast majority of their workload is backend that's an easier hire by far. Is the trade-off of a potential 95/5 split of time worth it to the developer? That's a personal decision to the developer. Unless you're never going to be writing code that is directly consumed by a front end or full Stack developer it is a good idea/practice to understand basics of the front end. So yes, you are correct that if the poster never was willing to touch the front end he'd be harder to hire for the company but that's just because we want people to be open to new technology and the full Stack. Either way, I think it'd be unwise to not learn basics of the opposite side you're on to stay relevant and be an attractive hire. N=1.