Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of a website? How exactly does clicking a button take you to another page? And where does your personal information go when you sign up for a free trial?

Back-end developers are experts who build and maintain mechanisms that process data and perform actions on websites. Unlike front-end developers who control everything you see on a website, back-end developers deal with data storage, security, and other server-side features that you don’t see.

Back-end development means working on server-side software that focuses on everything that is not visible on the website. Back-end developers keep your website running properly by focusing on databases, back-end logic, application programming interface (API), architecture, and servers. They use code that helps browsers communicate with databases, store, understand and delete data.

In a team, back-end developers work with front-end developers, product managers, lead architects and website testers to build the structure of a website or mobile application. Back-end developers need to know many kinds of tools and frameworks, including languages ​​like Python, Java, and Ruby. They make sure the back-end is fast and responsive to front-end user requests.

According to Glassdoor, the estimated median base salary for a back-end web developer in the United States is $115,604 as of June 2022. The median base salary is $95,072. This may vary based on your location, seniority and other factors.