Backend engineering ≠ CRUD APIs

It’s a deep, technical discipline that touches nearly every part of modern infrastructure.

We’re talking:

• Caching.

If you’re new to backend engineering …

Here’s something no one tells you:

Your first version of anything will be messy.

You’ll:

• Miss edge cases.

• Overcomplicate things.

I had a really great chat with a senior backend interviewer …

I asked him what really matters when he's evaluating candidates.

Here’s the top 5:

1. Programming Language MasteryHe wants candidates to know their primary backend language really well: Python, Java, C#, it doesn't matter.The more senior the position, the more advanced topics like concurrency, memory management, and language-specific features he explores.

2. Database & SQL KnowledgeHe always checks if candidates are comfortable with SQL …