What does AI mean for front-end versus backend coding?
As a full-stack engineer,
’s observation that while back-end work tends to converge on completion, front-end work has a hydra-like tendency to spawn even more work resonated deeply.As someone who more naturally veered to the front-end side of things, I often found that (after an initial adjustment) back-end coding felt almost like a break.
Whereas writing front-end applications felt very ‘hot’, being so close to the furnace of feedback from users and the rest of the company, by contrast, the back-end felt ‘cool’ - usually the only people interfacing with APIs directly were other developers, and the pace of change was much slower.
It would be common for a well-used back-end not to be touched for 6 months, with little consequence. If it was doing its job, it didn’t need to change.
By contrast, if a highly used front-end wasn’t changed for 6 months, there would almost certainly be a lengthy list of improvements and adjustments piling up. New brand colours, updated component libraries, changing copy and product language - the front-end is constantly shifting and evolving.
Given these differences, does AI impact them differently?
More tomorrow.