This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Preeti yadav
As a frontend developer, I thought backend was just "sending data to the frontend." Oh, how naive I was. 😅
Recently, I decided to level up and dive into NestJS + Prisma for backend development. Here’s a hilarious (and slightly painful) recap of my journey.
Phase 1: “How Hard Can It Be?”
Me, confidently installing NestJS:
npm i -g @nestjs/cli
nest new my-backend
Feels good. Feels… easy. 😌
Then I opened the main.ts file and saw decorators, modules, controllers, and services.
Frontend Me: “Where’s the App.js and why does everything look so… serious?” 😳
Phase 2: Prisma, Why You Betray Me?
Prisma ORM? Sounds fancy.
Me: "Okay, let’s just create a simple user model."
model User {
id String @id @default(uuid())
name String
email String @unique
}
Then I tried to migrate the database:
npx prisma migrate dev --name init
🔥 BOOM. ERROR. 🔥
Prisma: "You must define a database URL."
Me: "Bro, I thought we were friends?" 😭
Phase 3: Authentication – The Final Boss
Frontend: “Just send a token, bro.”
Backend: “Hash passwords, verify JWTs, handle refresh tokens, protect routes, configure CORS…”
Me: "I just wanted to build a to-do app 😭."
After 5 hours of debugging, I finally logged in successfully… only to realize I forgot to hash the password before saving it. Now, passwords are stored in plain text. Hacker’s dream. 😭
Phase 4: When It Finally Works
After countless YouTube tutorials and Stack Overflow sacrifices, I finally got my API running! 🎉
Tested it with Postman, saw a 200 OK, and felt like a backend GOD.
Final Thoughts: Should You Try Backend?
✅ If you enjoy suffering.
✅ If you want to feel like a hacker while writing SQL queries.
✅ If you want to flex that you know “full-stack.”
On a serious note, learning backend completes your dev skills and makes you appreciate the work backend engineers do. Would I do it again? 100%. But I’ll always respect my frontend roots. 🙌
💬 Your Turn!
Frontend devs, have you ever tried backend? How did it go? Let’s share our pain (and wins) in the comments! 😂
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Preeti yadav
Preeti yadav | Sciencx (2025-03-29T16:23:16+00:00) Frontend Dev Tries Backend… Sends Server to Another Dimension 🚀. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/03/29/frontend-dev-tries-backend-sends-server-to-another-dimension-%f0%9f%9a%80/
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