Comment by Tommy Hodgins on "Do you think backend developers are more respected than front-end developers?"

I think we'll see that balance itself out in time.

When you think of the ways that things can go wrong (instead of ways that things can go right) it makes a little more sense. Most of the data, the valuable stuff - is stored in the backend. This means security is constantly important as long as you have data to protect, and that means mistakes in your code can equal millions of dollars in damages, or worse outcomes than just monetary losses or damages.

On the frontend if things go horribly wrong, people may stop using your website, but it would be really hard to cause millions of dollars of damages because you coded a frontend-template in a sloppy way.

The other thing to keep in mind - if you have a web application, you can entirely replace the frontend. You can throw it out, fire the entire team, and hire a new team to build a totally different frontend (maybe for a different platform, or using different languages) but I can't imagine a company hanging onto a really good frontend and tossing out the entire backend team and code and replacing it with a new backend.

Frontend code is more disposable than backend code, no matter how complex or skilled you need to be to write it. And frontend code also doesn't carry the same business risks as backend code.

I think for these reasons, it totally makes more sense to put more money where there's more risk and value (and I'm a frontend guy saying this)

Frontend code absolutely carries the same business risks as backend code. If you screw up something as small as a button color or SEO semantics then it can reduce paid conversions and cost $$$.

@bmlyon I've got two words for you: HIPAA Violation.

Any time you're holding onto customer data you're holding onto massive liability! That liability for any company is almost certainly greater than 1 year of revenue. You could literally delete the frontend and have no website, no signups, no purchases for a year and still come out ahead of a security breach on the backend.

How do you think those HIPAA violations you mentioned happen? Often it's because the frontend allows it.

I've got another set of words for you: Life on the line. Imagine the simple mistake of switching the position of two buttons. Kill or live. If you swap those buttons someone could accidentally push the kill button because they're used to it existing where the live button does. Stuff like that happens frequently (albeit not that extreme). Any UI change can be dangerous.

cooper.com/journal/2008/5/interface_design_as_a_l…

Imagine the simple mistake of switching the position of two buttons. Kill or live.

How many websites do you know that have button UIs for killing a person? I can think of quite a few that hold sensitive customer data. I don't think this is a realistic comparison at all

Heck, how do you think those HIPAA violations you mentioned happen? Often it's because the frontend allows it.

Through server exploits! If it was possible for frontend code to expose sensitive data from the backend that would mean there's first a problem with the backend, not the frontend. When exploits happen it's not usually from information showing up in the UI that shouldn't be there.

Please read the link I provided, it's a very realistic comparison. Data never exists purely on the backend and requires both frontend and backend validation. At this point I believe you're arguing for the sake of arguing and I won't engage you in more discussion on the subject.

Brandon just a quick question to clear some things for me, "between the front end and backend system of facebook, which do you think is more complex?"

They're both complex. The frontend of Facebook has to deal with some fairly difficult things. They have plenty of A/B and multivariate testing. They have different user experiences. Most importantly, they have thousands of options which all have to play nicely with eachother. Dealing with user-generated content is never easy, especially when you give users a plethora of options and have to make sure the styles work together.

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