Backend Development Skill
Production-ready backend development with modern technologies, best practices, and proven patterns.
When to Use
- Designing RESTful, GraphQL, or gRPC APIs
- Building authentication/authorization systems
- Optimizing database queries and schemas
- Implementing caching and performance optimization
- OWASP Top 10 security mitigation
- Designing scalable microservices
- Testing strategies (unit, integration, E2E)
- CI/CD pipelines and deployment
- Monitoring and debugging production systems
Technology Selection Guide
Languages: Node.js/TypeScript (full-stack), Python (data/ML), Go (concurrency), Rust (performance)
Frameworks: NestJS, FastAPI, Django, Express, Gin
Databases: PostgreSQL (ACID), MongoDB (flexible schema), Redis (caching)
APIs: REST (simple), GraphQL (flexible), gRPC (performance)
See:
references/backend-technologies.md
for detailed comparisons
Reference Navigation
Core Technologies:
- - Languages, frameworks, databases, message queues, ORMs
- - REST, GraphQL, gRPC patterns and best practices
Security & Authentication:
- - OWASP Top 10 2025, security best practices, input validation
backend-authentication.md
Performance & Architecture:
- - Caching, query optimization, load balancing, scaling
- - Microservices, event-driven, CQRS, saga patterns
Quality & Operations:
- - Testing strategies, frameworks, tools, CI/CD testing
- - SOLID principles, design patterns, clean code
- - Docker, Kubernetes, deployment strategies, monitoring
- - Debugging strategies, profiling, logging, production debugging
- - Problem-solving, architectural thinking, collaboration
Key Best Practices (2025)
Security: Argon2id passwords, parameterized queries (98% SQL injection reduction), OAuth 2.1 + PKCE, rate limiting, security headers
Performance: Redis caching (90% DB load reduction), database indexing (30% I/O reduction), CDN (50%+ latency cut), connection pooling
Testing: 70-20-10 pyramid (unit-integration-E2E), Vitest 50% faster than Jest, contract testing for microservices, 83% migrations fail without tests
DevOps: Blue-green/canary deployments, feature flags (90% fewer failures), Kubernetes 84% adoption, Prometheus/Grafana monitoring, OpenTelemetry tracing
Quick Decision Matrix
| Need | Choose |
|---|
| Fast development | Node.js + NestJS |
| Data/ML integration | Python + FastAPI |
| High concurrency | Go + Gin |
| Max performance | Rust + Axum |
| ACID transactions | PostgreSQL |
| Flexible schema | MongoDB |
| Caching | Redis |
| Internal services | gRPC |
| Public APIs | GraphQL/REST |
| Real-time events | Kafka |
Implementation Checklist
API: Choose style → Design schema → Validate input → Add auth → Rate limiting → Documentation → Error handling
Database: Choose DB → Design schema → Create indexes → Connection pooling → Migration strategy → Backup/restore → Test performance
Security: OWASP Top 10 → Parameterized queries → OAuth 2.1 + JWT → Security headers → Rate limiting → Input validation → Argon2id passwords
Testing: Unit 70% → Integration 20% → E2E 10% → Load tests → Migration tests → Contract tests (microservices)
Deployment: Docker → CI/CD → Blue-green/canary → Feature flags → Monitoring → Logging → Health checks
Resources