Backend Engineer or Backend Developer: Which to Hire? 👨‍💻

In a world where an app’s functionality makes or breaks its success, business owners often find themselves at a crossroads — should they hire a backend engineer or developer? This crucial decision profoundly impacts a product’s performance and scalability, aided by the engineer or developer’s wide range of expertise. 

Below, we’ll explore the differences between backend engineers and backend developers and their specialized roles and responsibilities to help you decide which to hire for your project.

In a world where an app’s functionality makes or breaks its success, business owners often find themselves at a crossroads — should they hire a backend engineer or developer? This crucial decision profoundly impacts a product’s performance and scalability, aided by the engineer or developer’s wide range of expertise. 

Below, we’ll explore the differences between backend engineers and backend developers and their specialized roles and responsibilities to help you decide which to hire for your project. 

A backend engineer works at a higher level of abstraction and complexity than their backend developer counterpart. These professionals use their extensive knowledge of algorithms, design, and data to craft scalable, efficient, and secure computer systems. They consider essential elements like the database, architecture design, and the implementation of server-side logic to create systems capable of handling high data and traffic volumes. 

Backend engineers also engage in performance testing, troubleshooting, and issue resolution across the entire application and tech stack. Overall, these professionals ensure that the backends of software applications run smoothly. 

A backend engineer can help you:

Develop and manage APIs (application programming interfaces) to support frontend functions.

Create and maintain web applications to ensure they run efficiently and keep user interaction safe and secure.

Manage, store, and analyze data people interact with to build a more delightful user experience.

As a backend engineer, it’s essential to have knowledge of building and interacting with APIs and databases:

Server-side languages and frameworks –– such as Python + Django, Javascript + Express, and Ruby + Ruby on Rails –– help build APIs.

Database tools help fetch data from your application’s database (SQL).

A backend developer ensures all the behind-the-scenes parts of a website or app function properly. Think of a website or app as a restaurant: The frontend is the dining area that guests see and interact with, and the backend is the kitchen where chefs and sous chefs prepare meals. The backend developer is the chef who keeps everything running smoothly in the kitchen, while the frontend developer is your F&B server.

A backend developer has a few primary job functions: 

Building and maintaining the server: Backend developers set up and manage the computer server, where they cook up the data the frontend needs. 

Managing databases: These professionals manage databases, which store all your website or app’s information. This could be anything from user account details to Instagram posts. 

Creating application logic: Backend developers write server-side logic (recipes, if you will), which tells the server what to do when it receives requests.

Backend engineer and developer roles certainly appear similar, but several distinctions set them apart. From their tasks’ depth and complexity to their authority to make decisions, these differences influence how they act and what they do while working within teams and solo. 

Here are a few critical differences between backend engineers and backend developers: 

Scope of work: While a backend developer writes code, manages databases, and prioritizes server-side functions, a backend engineer not only tackles these tasks but also designs and controls the entire system architecture, considering factors like scalability and performance.

Complexity of work: In many cases, a backend developer handles defined tasks related to building specific features or fixing known bugs. In contrast, a backend engineer takes more complex problems, from optimizing system performance to handling large traffic volumes, and finds innovative solutions. 

Decision-making: A backend developer works within established frameworks and technologies per their project requirements. A backend engineer, however, often has a say in choosing a project’s technologies, tools, and design patterns for a project. 

When you hire an independent backend engineer, they can help you build a stable foundation for your business. Compared to a full-time backend engineer, who may have to go through a lengthy onboarding process, an Independent has the opportunity to solve one problem at a time and possesses the expertise to get your business where it needs to be.

Here are a few reasons to hire for this role:

To ship an MVP (minimum viable product): An independent backend engineer helps you ship an MVP (with a frontend engineer) during the early stages of your business to gather and organize user data.

To solve tangential problems: These professionals help you build or experiment with correlated issues that aren’t entirely related to your main product.

To create data-driven solutions: Independent backend engineers collect and analyze data to help solve user interaction issues, address business problems, and drive product-related goals.

To learn more about how to work with Independents, check out our best practices guide. 

If you’re considering hiring a freelance backend developer for your project, there are several scenarios where it just makes sense. These developers bring a wide range of skills to the table and can be the perfect fit in many situations, particularly when you’re not looking to hire a full-time employee.

Here are a few reasons to hire a freelance backend developer: 

To leverage a specific skill set: From full-stack development to JavaScript, freelance developers often have diverse work experience. You can find a freelancer with those exact skills if you have a specific requirement, such as proficiency in a particular programming language.

To tackle short-term projects: An Independent is an affordable choice for short-term projects, or if you need a developer to build a specific feature, fix a bug, or perform maintenance tasks. 

To deploy projects rapidly: Freelance backend developers can often start working on tasks more quickly than full-time, salaried employees. This is a significant advantage when racing against the clock to launch a new product. 

If you’re unsure about onboarding a backend engineer full time, don’t sweat it — you can hire a freelance backend engineer for your project instead. Because an independent backend engineer has worked with a series of different clients, they commonly have experience with a wide variety of tools and services they can use for your web application. 

Here are some reasons to outsource an Independent:

To integrate with another service: Suppose your web application needs a tool or service another company offers. In that case, you can hire an independent backend engineer to apply their APIs to your database (for example, integrating Plaid, Stripe, or Salesforce with your application).

To solve a problem with a new language: There’s a chance that an independent backend engineer can help apply a different programming language with the capabilities to solve your problem.

To save money: Although this is stating the obvious, we’d like to emphasize this point. Hiring a freelance backend developer is often more affordable than recruiting and retaining a full-time employee, especially when you only need their expertise for a specific project. 

To conclude support anytime you want: If your web application hosts content but doesn’t need to go through any changes, an independent software engineer or web development specialist can bring your website to life with one project. Once done, you can cease ongoing support and reach out to the freelancer whenever you need their expertise. 

To gain a fresh perspective: Because freelancers typically work on various projects across diverse industries, they offer a new outlook on your project. 

To provide coverage for a temporary gap: Is your team struggling with a temporary gap due to a transition, sudden departure, or unforeseen circumstances? Outsource a freelance backend engineer or developer to keep your project on track, provide continuity, and prevent delays.

Contra is the Independent-first community and commission-free hiring platform empowering the future of work. We match Independents with flexible opportunities and clients with the perfect Independent for any project — from content creation and coding to graphic designing and data analysis. On Contra, you’ll find the ideal backend engineer, backend developer, or frontend developer per your project needs. Here’s how to post the perfect opportunity.