Backend Engineer

← All career guides Software development Backend Engineer Builds secure, reliable server-side services, APIs, data access layers, and distributed workflows. Find relevant jobs→Print learning guideOpen Hitchhiker's guide→ Skill coverage 100% 9 of 9 skills Course coverage 90% 60 of 67 courses Skill coverage shows how much of the role's capability map already has a published course. Course coverage shows how much of the mapped course pipeline for this role has shipped. Role skills 9 Published coverage 9 Relevant courses 60 Capability map Skills Importance describes how central each capability is to the role. Course coverage shows where you can build the skill in the current OpenSkills catalog. 01 Service development 5 capabilities Backend programming Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Implements maintainable server-side applications in a production language. Course coverage Programming FundamentalsApplication ArchitectureClean ArchitectureDesign PatternsDomain-Driven DesignElixir FundamentalsJava FundamentalsASP.NET Core FundamentalsC# ProgrammingDeno FundamentalsDjango FundamentalsGo FundamentalsPHP FundamentalsRust Fundamentals, Python Application Development (planned)API design Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Defines stable HTTP, RPC, and event-driven service contracts. Course coverage API DesignFreegRPC FundamentalsModel Context Protocol (MCP)Databases Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Models data and uses transactions, indexes, and persistence systems correctly. Course coverage Database FundamentalsSQL FundamentalsColumn-Family DatabasesDatabase IndexingDatabase NormalizationDatabase Transactions and ConcurrencyDocument DatabasesElasticsearch FundamentalsRelational Database DesignApache Cassandra FundamentalsTesting Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Verifies service behavior through unit, integration, and end-to-end tests. Course coverage Software Testing FundamentalsUnit and Integration TestingTest AutomationTest StrategyUnit TestingIntegration Testing, Test-Driven Development (planned)AI-assisted development Importance: Very important (4 of 5) Uses AI coding assistants and agentic tools to accelerate development while verifying and owning their output. Course coverage Claude CodeCursorGitHub CopilotGooseOpenAI Codex CLIWindsurf 02 Production services 4 capabilities Distributed systems Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Handles concurrency, partial failure, consistency, and scaling. Course coverage Distributed Systems FundamentalsConcurrent ProgrammingDaprDistributed ConsensusDistributed TransactionsMicroservices FundamentalsNGINX FundamentalsSystem Design FundamentalsMessaging Importance: Very important (4 of 5) Designs asynchronous workflows using queues and event streams. Course coverage Event-Driven ArchitectureMessage QueuesMessaging FundamentalsApache Kafka FundamentalsApache Kafka OperationsApache Pulsar FundamentalsService security Importance: Essential (5 of 5) Protects APIs, identities, dependencies, and sensitive data. Course coverage Application Security FundamentalsFreeAPI SecurityAuthentication and AuthorizationDatabase SecurityOWASP Top 10OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Secrets Management (planned)Observability Importance: Very important (4 of 5) Instruments services to support diagnosis and reliability. Course coverage Application Performance MonitoringDistributed TracingElastic Stack ObservabilityObservability FundamentalsFree Learning path Relevant courses Print all introsPrint all cheatsheets Core foundations The concepts this role is built on. API DesignFreeApplication Security FundamentalsFreeDatabase FundamentalsDistributed Systems FundamentalsProgramming FundamentalsSoftware Testing FundamentalsSQL FundamentalsUnit and Integration Testing Supporting knowledge Adjacent knowledge that improves day-to-day judgment. API SecurityApplication ArchitectureApplication Performance MonitoringAuthentication and AuthorizationClaude CodeClean ArchitectureColumn-Family DatabasesConcurrent ProgrammingCursorDaprDatabase IndexingDatabase NormalizationDatabase SecurityDatabase Transactions and ConcurrencyDesign PatternsDistributed ConsensusDistributed TracingDistributed TransactionsDocument DatabasesDomain-Driven DesignElastic Stack ObservabilityElasticsearch FundamentalsElixir FundamentalsEvent-Driven ArchitectureGitHub CopilotGoosegRPC FundamentalsJava FundamentalsMessage QueuesMessaging FundamentalsMicroservices FundamentalsNGINX FundamentalsObservability FundamentalsFreeOpenAI Codex CLIOWASP Top 10Relational Database DesignSystem Design FundamentalsTest AutomationTest StrategyUnit TestingWindsurfIntegration Testing, OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, Rust Fundamentals, Secrets Management, Test-Driven Development (planned) Specializations Deeper paths for particular environments or directions. Apache Cassandra FundamentalsApache Kafka FundamentalsApache Kafka OperationsApache Pulsar FundamentalsASP.NET Core FundamentalsC# ProgrammingDeno FundamentalsDjango FundamentalsGo FundamentalsModel Context Protocol (MCP)PHP FundamentalsPython Application Development (planned) Put the map to work Find Backend Engineer roles. Search multiple job sources at once with queries tailored to this career, then use the skill map above to evaluate what each role actually asks for. Open job search→ Keep exploring More in Software development Blockchain Developer→