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Software development

Backend Engineer

Builds secure, reliable server-side services, APIs, data access layers, and distributed workflows.

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Learning guideCheatsheet

Skill coverage

100%

9 of 9 skills

Course coverage

94%

76 of 81 courses

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: 76

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

Backend programming
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Implements maintainable server-side applications in a production language.
Course coverage
API design
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Defines stable HTTP, RPC, and event-driven service contracts.
Course coverage
- API DesignFree
- Binary Data and Encoding
- gRPC Fundamentals
- Kong Gateway
- Web Server Fundamentals
- Model Context Protocol (MCP)
- OpenAPI Specification, Postman Fundamentals (planned)
Databases
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Models data and uses transactions, indexes, and persistence systems correctly.
Course coverage
Testing
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Verifies service behavior through unit, integration, and end-to-end tests.
Course coverage
- Software Testing FundamentalsFree
- Unit and Integration Testing
- Integration TestingFree
- Test Automation
- Test Strategy
- Test-Driven Development
- Unit Testing
- API Testing, Contract Testing (planned)
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.
Course coverage
- Distributed Systems FundamentalsFree
- Concurrent Programming
- Dapr
- Distributed Computing Fundamentals
- Distributed Consensus
- Distributed Transactions
- Microservices Fundamentals
- NGINX Fundamentals
- System Design FundamentalsFree
- Temporal Fundamentals (planned)
Messaging
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Designs asynchronous workflows using queues and event streams.
Course coverage
Service security
Importance: Essential (5 of 5)
Protects APIs, identities, dependencies, and sensitive data.
Course coverage
Observability
Importance: Very important (4 of 5)
Instruments services to support diagnosis and reliability.
Course coverage

Learning path

Relevant courses

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Core foundations

The concepts this role is built on.

Supporting knowledge

Adjacent knowledge that improves day-to-day judgment.

Specializations

Deeper paths for particular environments or directions.

Put the map to work

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