Hello everyone, quick question. Although I really enjoy frontEnd development… i’ve learn ( took some time ) that I REALLY REALLY love BackEnd. Particularly NodeJs.
Is it possible for me to become a freelance NodeJs developer ( for backend) or do i need to have the FullStack?
Possible? Sure. Probable? Less so, in my (only slightly informed) opinion.
I think it is harder to get hired as back end developer as a first job without a degree. There can be some very complex interactions on the backend and there is a lot of potential for damage to a company. If you screw up the spacing on a the f/e, it’s embarrassing. But on the b/e, you can screw up big, big things. That’s an oversimplification, but that’s how it was explained to me. My perception is that there is a preference for CS grads.
Another problem is that it is a little more difficult to show b/e work in a portfolio. I also think it is hard to mimic the huge, layered, integrated system that a b/e often is.
I think the nest bet is to put yourself out as full stack and keep developing both skills. Once you get into a job (fullstack or f/e) you can move towards a b/e position.
Again, I’m no expert, but that’s my understanding. It’s possible, just less likely.
Makes perfect sense, Kevin. Thanks for the input, much appreciated.
The biggest issue with being a freelancing “back-end only” developer is that means whoever is hiring you will either have an existing project that needs updating in a specific place, or they will need to hire another person to handle the front-end while you work on the back-end.
Neither of which cases seems common or makes much sense business wise when you could just get a single “full-stack” person that does everything, even if they are worse at both ends.
There are also lots of jobs that are mostly only front-end (say build a static site for someone’s business, nothing fancy) which means freelancing in that realm is possible due to more jobs. This is less true for back-end work, which just turns more into “non-front-end related software development”.
Freelancing as a back-end dev, probably leans more into consulting where you are more of an “expert” that can get hired for a given project+company and work on that project for a while, effectively as an employee.
Regardless, as @kevinSmith said above, you gotta know your stuff, as the realm of back-end is inherently more risky as its job is to act as a “secure environment”. If you screw up security in some way, you could open up the application and your user’s data to attack. The front-end always has the back-end to act as the “last line of defense”. If the back-end gets compromised in any way or form, your basically screwed.
If you enjoy working on the back-end, then I suggest continue learning it but don’t focus on freelancing. Rather focus on getting a job at a company where you can do that work. Its less risk, means you get more training and back-up and can focus on the part you want to work in.
The front-end might be “flashy and cool”, but really its a single specific (popular) domain. Everything else can be “back-end”. From web servers, to operations, to systems, to cloud providers, to machine learning, etc etc, its all “back-end”.
Good luck, keep learning, keep building 
this makes a lot of sense… never thought of it like that…
Yea, I agree. . I really like the MERN Stack and have been really running with it for the past few months… Thanks for the words, much-appreciated.
If you’re interested in the backend why not learn php / laravel / symfony or c# (and associated framework(s)) ?
I don’t think node.js is that in demand on the job market… I’m sure there are companies that use it but 8/10 websites use php
Well most of that is because so many sites use WordPress, I would assume.
You have to be careful trying to predict what language is going to have the best prospects. The need keeps changing as does the supply of developers for that language - and that’s what really determines employment prospects. And both of those can change unexpectedly.
Just learn a good fullstack. After you’ve learned a few languages, learning a new language gets a lot easier. Just learn a good stack.
Fair point WordPress sites skew it heavily although from anecdotal experience php and c# tend to make up the majority of backend job posts I’ve seen