Best Back-End Development Bootcamps
Find the program that's right for you
Learn new skills quickly with a bootcamp, or earn a degree from a traditional college.
Answer a few questions to get matched with a bootcamp that fits your needs.
Explore accredited colleges to get matched with the best program for you.
Bill Gates once said, āMeasuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight.ā Essentially, the behind-the-scenes of web development is so much more than simple code.
If you are a person who is interested in understanding how web development works ābehind the curtain,ā then you may want to look into back-end development. Concerned that itās hard? Learning this discipline may be easier than you think. Coding bootcamps are becoming more and more popular, and back-end development bootcamps are no exception. Attending a back-end development bootcamp can help you establish a new career as a back-end developer or move from a front-end developer position to a full-stack position, which includes both front-end and back-end development.
There are two big advantages to attending a coding bootcamp vs. going to college. The first is that the typical coding bootcamp takes 3-6 months to complete. This allows you to jump into the workplace much more quickly.
The second big advantage is the cost. College can be very expensive. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the average cost of undergraduate tuition and fees in 2019-20 was $13,360 per year. In comparison, the average cost of attending a coding bootcamp was $13,580 in 2021.
In this guide, youāll learn more about the best back-end development bootcamps.
What Is Back-End Development?
You might still be wondering, āWhat is back-end development?ā Back-end development involves coding what happens with the data submitted to the website. For example, if there is a registration form on the website, the user will need to enter his or her email address, desired username, and password. The front-end developer embeds the form into the site, but the back-end developer programs the functionality of the form.
The back-end developer codes the form to accept data and checks it to ensure it meets certain requirements. For example, the code may check the email address to make sure it contains both an ā@ā and a dot. If it doesnāt, the site may display a warning or refuse to accept the input. Once the data has been verified, it is saved in a database.
The most popular programming languages for back-end web development are JavaScript, Python, PHP, Java, and Ruby. Back-end bootcamps usually focus on just one of these languages, but youāll be more desirable to employers if you learn more than one.
Front-End vs. Back-End Development
Front-end development involves coding the part of the website the user can see. Back-end development focuses on the data that is stored behind the scenes on the server. Many web design teams include a front-end developer, back-end developer, and web designer. When one person does both front-end and back-end development, that person is considered a full-stack web developer.
Front-End Development Includes: | Back-End Development Includes: |
---|---|
The color theme of the website | Collecting data from forms |
The font size and styles | Validating data |
The navigation menu | Prompting the user to change the data if it is invalid |
Ad placements | Saving the data in a database |
Headlines | Extracting data from a database to display content |
Image and video placements | Using APIs to connect to other websites |
Form embedding | Web servers |
Sliders | Anything else that happens behind the scenes |
Anything else the user can see |
Coding Bootcamps for You
Best Back-End Development Bootcamps
Clarusway
- Location: Remote
- Program Cost: $18,000
- Learning Format: Online
- Time Commitment: Part-Time
Career Services
Evening & Weekend Options
This back-end development course teaches students how to develop applications in Python using the Django framework in the back end of a website. Students learn how to design and use databases and how to develop APIs. They learn to use ReactJS and Git. The course includes over 100 hours of training plus 54 hours of career management.
NuCamp
- Location: Remote
- Program Cost: $1,925
- Learning Format: Online
- Time Commitment: Part-Time
Career Services
Nucampās back-end bootcamp teaches data structures and algorithms in Python. The 16-week course covers SQL and uploading data to the cloud. Students learn about data structures and how to use Django, Docker, PostgreSQL, and DevOps. The bootcamp is divided into three sections, each of which includes a project that students can add to their portfolios.
Methodology
Bootcamp Ranking Guidelines
At BestColleges, we believe the best bootcamp is the one that fits your schedule, your learning needs, and your career aspirations. That's why we often present our recommendations in alphabetical order -- because the real best bootcamp is the bootcamp that's best for you.
Back-End Development Careers
The most in-demand back-end development careers are back-end developer, full-stack developer, and software engineer.
Back-End Developer
The back-end developer programs the parts of the site where data is stored, changed, or extracted. The developer writes code that interacts with a database or databases on the server.
Average Annual Salary:$88,490
Full-Stack Developer
A full-stack developer codes both the front end and the back end of a website. The full-stack developer does everything except design the look and feel of the site.
Average Annual Salary:$80,150
Software Engineer
The software engineer works to combine the parts of a project into a unified whole. They work with programmers to define programming tasks and functions.
Average Annual Salary:$89,090
Frequently Asked Questions About Back-End Development Bootcamps
Are coding bootcamps worth it?
Yes, coding bootcamps are generally worth taking. You can learn everything you need to know to start a web development career in just a few months for a fraction of what it would cost to earn a four-year degree.
If you take a coding bootcamp, thereās a good chance that youāll be able to land a job as a junior web developer within six months of completing the course. Depending on what you make now, that could mean a significant pay raise when you start your new career.
Is back-end development hard to learn?
Back-end development is not hard to learn, but it is harder than front-end development. In part, the difficulty of learning back-end development depends on the language being used. The bootcamps listed in this guide both use Python, which is relatively easy to learn.
Most back-end programming languages have frameworks and tools that add to their functionality. Youāll need to learn these tools, as well as the actual programming language. Youāll also need to learn how to interact with SQL databases.
Should I learn front-end development first?
Most developers recommend learning front-end development first. Not only is it easier, but youāll need to understand the code in which the website is written so you can figure out how the back-end code fits into the website as a whole.
Learning front-end and back-end development will help you qualify for more jobs since you could do the job of a front-end developer, back-end developer, or full-stack developer.
GI BillĀ® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government Web site at https://benefits.va.gov/gibill/index.asp.
Feature Image: vgajic / E+ / Getty Images
Explore More College Resources
Full-Stack Web Development Bootcamps: A Complete Guide
Full-stack web development bootcamps teach students how to build a website or application from start to finish. Learn about the best full-stack bootcamps.
by Marisa Upson
Updated April 21, 2023