Before you decide the type of developer you aspire to be, let's take a moment to understand the Front End / Back End model. This is synonymous with the Client / Server model, a concept commonly used in the web2 world.
A typical web2 application has 2 sides to it. A Front End, and a Back End. Take Amazon for example, the Front End is the amazon.com website that you see in your web browser, and you use that to search for products to buy. The Front End displays text, images, buttons and links for you to interact with, and also decides how any content (such as product images and prices), is displayed to you on your web browser.
Say you are searching amazon.com for a mothers day gift. All the actual gifts that match your search criteria, are actually retrieved from the Back End. Think of the Back End as a repository of products that is always up to date with the latest Amazon sellers and products. Your Front End will make a request to the Back End saying “give me anything that matches my search of “mother’s day gifts”. Based on the search parameters received, Server Side scripts on the backend will search the Database for matching products, and send the search results back to the Front End. The Front End then receives the requested search results data from the Back End, and then displays it in your browser. This whole process takes place very quickly, and it is normal that Front End users (which means most of us) do not realize that there is much more happening in the background.
In the web3 world, the Back End is instead replaced by smart contracts (known as Programs in Solana speak) and the actual Blockchain itself. The end objective of web2 and web3 Back Ends is the same, in that both serve to support functionality on the Front End. However, the implementations are quite different. Also, using a web3 Back End, typically blockchain based, brings about several advantages for certain use cases. The use cases are however beyond the scope of this article, and it is assumed that you are here because you are already somewhat familiar the topic.
Now that you understand the differences between the Front End and the Back End, it is time to make a choice on what type of developer you want to become: a Front End developer, a Solana blockchain developer (Back End), or a Full Stack Solana developer (essentially going through both frontend and blockchain developer path).
Pick your choice: