Roadmap
Backend developer
APIs, databases, auth, caching and deployment, learned by building a real service.
Who it's for
Developers who want to build the systems behind apps, and frontend developers moving down the stack.
Where it leads
- Backend developer
- API engineer
- Platform engineer
- Full-stack developer
By the end you can
- Design and build a REST API with tests
- Model data in PostgreSQL and write fast queries
- Add authentication without the classic security holes
- Deploy, monitor and scale a service
- 1
How the web works
HTTP, status codes, headers and REST. Every backend bug report starts here.
- 2
One language, properly
Pick Node.js, Go, Python or Java and go deep rather than wide.
- 3
SQL and data modelling
Most backend performance problems are database problems. Learn indexes and query plans early.
- DocsPostgreSQL tutorialPostgreSQL
- BookUse The Index, LukeMarkus Winand. Indexing explained for developers. Free online.
- PracticeSQLBolt: interactive SQL lessonsSQLBolt
Do this: Design the schema for a small marketplace, load fake data and make the slowest query ten times faster.
- 4
Authentication and security
Sessions, tokens, password storage and the OWASP Top 10. Get these wrong and nothing else matters.
Do this: Add sign-up, login and password reset to your API, then test it against the OWASP authentication cheat sheet.
- 5
Caching, queues and scale
Redis, background jobs and the trade-offs behind systems that stay fast under load.
- 6
Deploy and observe
Containers, CI and logs. A service you can't see is a service you can't fix.
Do this: Deploy your API with a CI pipeline, structured logs and a health check endpoint.
Learning this with others is easier.
Ask questions when you're stuck, find people on the same path, and track your progress on DevLearn.