Backend engineering
APIs, data integrity, and services that survive production.
Build backend systems the way strong product teams expect: clear APIs, correct transactions, safe migrations, and operable services.
Who this is for: Backend and fullstack grads leveling toward mid/senior ownership.
outcomes
- Design REST/RPC APIs with versioning and idempotency
- Use transactions and isolation levels intentionally
- Ship schema changes without downtime
lessons
- 1 API craft Resources, errors, pagination, versioning, idempotency.
- 2 Transactions and data integrity ACID, isolation anomalies, and when to use outbox patterns.
- 3 Safe schema migrations Expand/contract, online changes, and zero-downtime deploys.
- 4 Service boundaries and modularity Monolith modularity first; microservices when forced by scale/org.
- 5 Security baselines for backends OWASP hotspots: injection, auth flaws, SSRF, secrets.
- 6 Operability: logs, metrics, runbooks Make 3am you grateful. Instrument before you need it.