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Why do the number of front end devs exceed the back end? Does anyone else see a problem here? Front end effort has always been a fraction of back end effort on

by rokkit 5y ago

Why do the number of front end devs exceed the back end? Does anyone else see a problem here? Front end effort has always been a fraction of back end effort on the systems I've developed. If that's not the case, I can only hypothesize it's because front end toolchains have gotten overly complex for what they accomplish. Not only that, but I would posit that for most SaaS ventures, the back end is where the differentiation and value is delivered, so that is where the bulk of dev resources should be deployed.

granshaw 5y ago
The standard of polish that users expect has gone up a lot. The Front end is what users actually interact with, to them it might as well be your entire stack
matteovh 5y ago
Backend dev has basically become CRUD API development whereas products end up being differentiated by brand and UX polish.
gedy 5y ago
Of the consumer/Enterprise SaaS companies I've worked with, many devs who say they are doing "backend" are just writing controllers and APIs specifically for front end/UI consumption. A lot of places have combined that work into same stack/JS and call it "frontend".
dzonga 5y ago
yeah, as someone who has worked on both ends of the stack, that was confusing as hell. if you only need backend dev's on a 1:2 ratio with frontend, then your product ain't complex to begin with to warrant a separate frontend team. but then having vc money contributes to decisions most of us, will never understand.
devmunchies 5y ago
at a startup with less than 50 people, the frontend engineers will typically manage "frontend services", which includes the backend that directly serves the frontend. basically full stack, which was't included.
golergka 5y ago
I think that those figures are the kind of estimates that only make sense in aggregate: when it says 8 front-end developers, I just assume that it has a standard deviation of at least 4.
imperfectcats 5y ago
They don't do they? By my count all the non-front end devs do back end, so Client Applications (2), Core Services/Platform (1) & Dev Ops/Infra (1)
tnolet 5y ago
I'm more surprised with the 1 person DevOps. Good luck to that person being on-call 24/7, 365 days a year!
- jen20 5y ago
  The entire point of “DevOps” is not to be a position at all - so the number of “DevOps” hires should be 0. DevOps is a mindset of bridging operational and development teams to improve the delivery of work done to a place where it can deliver value. If the author means an “SRE”, he should say that - though the discussion about “you write it, you run it” can be left for a different day.
  - tnolet 5y ago
    yes, that the theory. In practice, "DevOps" is 100% a position and he/she will probably be on the hook for uptime etc. I don't agree with any of that, but that's how the cookie has crumbled.
fatnoah 5y ago
I've been a back-end dev at one of those places. When the front-end is comprised of Android, iOS, Web, and even Windows Phone, a senior and productive back-end team can easily serve multiple front-end teams. In my case, a back-end team of 4 owned everything "non-app" while about 10 engineers owned the various front-ends.

by rokkit 5y ago

granshaw 5y ago

The standard of polish that users expect has gone up a lot. The Front end is what users actually interact with, to them it might as well be your entire stack

matteovh 5y ago

Backend dev has basically become CRUD API development whereas products end up being differentiated by brand and UX polish.

gedy 5y ago

Of the consumer/Enterprise SaaS companies I've worked with, many devs who say they are doing "backend" are just writing controllers and APIs specifically for front end/UI consumption. A lot of places have combined that work into same stack/JS and call it "frontend".

dzonga 5y ago

yeah, as someone who has worked on both ends of the stack, that was confusing as hell. if you only need backend dev's on a 1:2 ratio with frontend, then your product ain't complex to begin with to warrant a separate frontend team. but then having vc money contributes to decisions most of us, will never understand.

devmunchies 5y ago

at a startup with less than 50 people, the frontend engineers will typically manage "frontend services", which includes the backend that directly serves the frontend. basically full stack, which was't included.

golergka 5y ago

I think that those figures are the kind of estimates that only make sense in aggregate: when it says 8 front-end developers, I just assume that it has a standard deviation of at least 4.

imperfectcats 5y ago

They don't do they? By my count all the non-front end devs do back end, so Client Applications (2), Core Services/Platform (1) & Dev Ops/Infra (1)

tnolet 5y ago

I'm more surprised with the 1 person DevOps. Good luck to that person being on-call 24/7, 365 days a year!

jen20 5y ago
The entire point of “DevOps” is not to be a position at all - so the number of “DevOps” hires should be 0. DevOps is a mindset of bridging operational and development teams to improve the delivery of work done to a place where it can deliver value. If the author means an “SRE”, he should say that - though the discussion about “you write it, you run it” can be left for a different day.
- tnolet 5y ago
  yes, that the theory. In practice, "DevOps" is 100% a position and he/she will probably be on the hook for uptime etc. I don't agree with any of that, but that's how the cookie has crumbled.

fatnoah 5y ago

I've been a back-end dev at one of those places. When the front-end is comprised of Android, iOS, Web, and even Windows Phone, a senior and productive back-end team can easily serve multiple front-end teams. In my case, a back-end team of 4 owned everything "non-app" while about 10 engineers owned the various front-ends.