Rethinking Backend Engineering: It’s More Than Just Coding

Rethinking Backend Engineering: It’s More Than Just Coding

Backend engineering, often viewed as the heart and soul of digital products, is a discipline that requires more than just great coding skills. But how we understand and approach problems can fundamentally change our solutions.

Understanding the Traditional Approach: Observe + Evaluate + Strategize + Implement

1. Observe: Developers see or identify an issue or requirement.
2. Evaluate: They analyze the problem to understand its intricacies.
3. Strategize: A plan of action or a design is put in place.
4. Implement: The solution is coded.

While this model is direct, it sometimes misses the user’s point of view, leading to solutions that might technically work but don’t resonate with the user’s expectations or needs.

A More Comprehensive Approach: Listen + Empathize + Reflect + Evaluate + Strategize + Implement

1. Listen: Before even considering a solution, listen to the problem statement. This could be from a client, a user, or a system alert.
2. Empathize: Put yourself in the shoes of the person facing the problem. Understanding their frustrations, needs, and expectations can provide insights that are easy to miss otherwise.
3. Reflect: Reflect on the task, thinking about potential challenges, edge cases, and security issues.
4. Evaluate: Understand the scope and dimensions of the problem fully.
5. Strategize: Choose or design the best solution, possibly even prototyping a few to see which fits best.
6. Implement: With empathy and understanding as your foundation, the coding becomes more attuned to real-world needs.

A Real-life Example:

Let’s revisit our profile picture example:

1. Listen: Your client wants a profile picture feature with fast-loading images and consistent quality.
2. Empathize: As you place yourself in a user’s shoes, you realize they might not be tech-savvy. They could be frustrated by complex uploading processes or unclear error messages. They just want to show their face to their peers without a fuss.
3. Reflect: What issues could arise? Large file uploads, varied formats, malicious files are some.
4. Evaluate: How can the process be simplified while maintaining security and functionality?
5. Strategize: Use Laravel’s built-in features, an image processing library, and malware scanning to ensure user ease and system security.
6. Implement:

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Wrapping up, the essence of backend engineering is more nuanced than mere code and systems — it’s about truly understanding and resonating with the user’s journey. By embedding empathy in our approach, we can develop solutions that not only function flawlessly but also genuinely enhance the user’s interaction. True excellence in backend development lies in harmonizing technical prowess with a deep-seated understanding of user needs and experiences.

Note: This blog was crafted with the assistance of ChatGPT by OpenAI.

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