How to Decide Between Frontend And Backend Development

You want to learn web development.

And you wonder where to start.

Frontend development, backend development, or should you dare to try learning both and become full stack?

Here‘s the advice I‘d give my 8 years younger self:

Just pick something. If you get curious about the other side, you can always learn it and become full stack.

I know that it‘s difficult to decide now.

But trust me, it‘s not that big of a decision.

If you‘re more into visuals and would love to build usable user interfaces, start with frontend.

If you like to structure things, and set up processes for your own life, start with backend.

If you‘re unsure, I‘d pick frontend development. Learn HTML, CSS and JS. Try out “modern web development” with one of the many frontend frameworks available. (Try out Vue!)

That sparked the interest for me, and now I‘m full stack.

I eventually wanted to build my personal projects, from start to finish.

That led me to learning Node.js, databases, Docker, and Hosting.

And now, when I have a frontend-heavy project at work, I‘m doing more backend at home, and vice versa.
Just to have a nice balance.

This is something for life:

If you can‘t decide between two choices, they‘re probably similar and it doesn‘t really matter that much what you pick. Think Starbucks. Does it really matter if you pick the Pumpkin Spice Macchiato vs the Caramel Macchiato?