Backend programming
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Implements maintainable server-side applications in a production language.
Course coverage
← All career guides9 of 9 skills69 of 69 courses
Software development
Backend Engineer
Builds secure, reliable server-side services, APIs, data access layers, and distributed workflows.
Skill coverage
100%
Course coverage
100%
Skill coverage shows how much of the role's capability map already has a published course. Course coverage shows how much of the mapped course pipeline for this role has shipped.
- Role skills
- 9
- Published coverage
- 9
- Relevant courses
- 69
Capability map
Skills
Importance describes how central each capability is to the role. Course coverage shows where you can build the skill in the current OpenSkills catalog.
01
Service development
5 capabilities
API design
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Defines stable HTTP, RPC, and event-driven service contracts.
Databases
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Models data and uses transactions, indexes, and persistence systems correctly.
Testing
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Verifies service behavior through unit, integration, and end-to-end tests.
AI-assisted development
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Uses AI coding assistants and agentic tools to accelerate development while verifying and owning their output.
Course coverage
02
Production services
4 capabilities
Distributed systems
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Handles concurrency, partial failure, consistency, and scaling.
Messaging
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Designs asynchronous workflows using queues and event streams.
Service security
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Protects APIs, identities, dependencies, and sensitive data.
Observability
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Instruments services to support diagnosis and reliability.
Learning path
Relevant courses
Core foundations
The concepts this role is built on.
Supporting knowledge
Adjacent knowledge that improves day-to-day judgment.
- API Security
- Application Architecture
- Application Performance Monitoring
- Authentication and Authorization
- Claude Code
- Clean Architecture
- Column-Family Databases
- Concurrent Programming
- Cursor
- Dapr
- Database Indexing
- Database Normalization
- Database Security
- Database Transactions and Concurrency
- Design Patterns
- Distributed Consensus
- Distributed Tracing
- Distributed Transactions
- Document Databases
- Domain-Driven Design
- Elastic Stack Observability
- Elasticsearch Fundamentals
- Elixir Fundamentals
- Event-Driven Architecture
- GitHub Copilot
- Goose
- gRPC Fundamentals
- Integration TestingFree
- Java Fundamentals
- Message Queues
- Messaging Fundamentals
- Microservices Fundamentals
- NGINX Fundamentals
- OAuth 2.0
- Observability FundamentalsFree
- OpenAI Codex CLI
- OpenID Connect
- OWASP Top 10
- Relational Database Design
- Rust Fundamentals
- Secrets Management
- Software Profiling
- System Design FundamentalsFree
- Test Automation
- Test Strategy
- Test-Driven Development
- Unit Testing
- Web Server Fundamentals
- Windsurf
Specializations
Deeper paths for particular environments or directions.
Put the map to work
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