Who this path is for
Choose this path if you want APIs, services, and data systems — including career changers who prefer server-side work over UI, and frontend developers adding a coherent backend track.
Career path
Backend Developer
Build the systems that power products.
Pick a language, framework, and database. Add auth, APIs, and deployment. Substitutions are allowed — prerequisites stay visible.
- Duration
- 5–8 months
- Path price
- ₦450,000
- Skills in default path
- 9
- Weekly commitment
- Plan time for lessons, practice, and projects each week — exact hours depend on your pace.
9 skills × skill price (no separate path discount)
What is Backend development?
A backend developer builds the systems behind products: APIs, data models, authentication, business rules, and integrations. You make sure data is stored correctly, services stay reliable, and other apps (web or mobile) can consume what you expose.
What does a Backend Developer do?
Typical work includes designing endpoints, modeling tables or collections, writing validation and authorization, connecting to databases, logging and debugging failures, writing migrations, and deploying services. You use Git daily, read HTTP carefully, and document how teammates should call your APIs.
Prerequisites
Basic programming concepts help; beginner language skills are included in the path.
Target career direction
- Backend developer
- API engineer
- Platform developer
Career roadmap
Backend Developer
Destination: Backend developer · 9 courses in the default path · 5–8 months
Backend development
Default track: Node.js / TypeScript · Express.js. Alternatives stay available when you customize.
Professional workflow
Optional skills you can add — testing, deployment, auth, and related tooling.
Prove
Path projects, Experience Lab when you qualify, and portfolio evidence you can show.
Why the skills are taught in this order
Git, HTTP, and SQL come early because every backend stack depends on version control, the request/response model, and data. Language and framework come next so you build real services in Node, Python, or PHP. Database choice follows so persistence matches your stack. Auth, Docker, testing, and CI/CD are optional depth once a basic service runs end to end.
- 01Core — Git, GitHub, HTTP, SQL
- 02Language track — Node.js/TypeScript, Python, or PHP
- 03Framework — Express or NestJS; Django, FastAPI, or Flask; or Laravel
- 04Database — PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB
- 05Optional — authentication, Docker Compose, API testing, CI/CD, AI-assisted coding
- 06Proof — API projects and a deployed service others can call
Backend skills
You learn to design routes, structure application code, handle errors, and keep secrets out of the repo. Frameworks accelerate delivery; foundations keep you from treating the framework as magic.
Databases, APIs & authentication
You practice schema design, queries, and ORM or query-layer patterns that match your language choice. APIs stay consistent: clear status codes, validation, and documentation so clients can integrate without guessing.
Deployment & production
Toward the end of the path you run services outside your laptop — environment config, process management concepts, and optional containerization — so “it works on my machine” is not the finish line.
Why follow a path?
Individual courses help you learn a technology. A Career Path gives those skills a sequence, connects them to a role, and shows what comes next — from foundations through practical work.
Individual courses
“I know JavaScript. What should I learn next?”
Career Path
“Here is the sequence, why each skill matters, what comes next, and where I apply it.”
Technologies in this Mclenhub path
Core skills come first. Framework and ecosystem choices are customizable in the path builder. The roadmap above shows the same curriculum as a progression.
Default path skills (9)
What you should be able to do
- Design and ship APIs
- Persist data correctly
- Deploy a service others can call
You should be able to design and ship APIs, persist data correctly, handle authentication basics, and deploy a service others can call — with GitHub history that shows how you got there.
Practical projects
- Documented REST (or similar) APIs with realistic validation
- Data models and seed data you can explain in a review
- At least one deployed backend service with clear setup instructions
How Mclenhub teaches this path
Each skill is a focused course with tutor access. The path keeps prerequisites visible when you substitute stacks. Projects and code review matter more than collecting certificates.
Assessment
API projects, data modeling exercises, and reviewed pull requests on path projects.
Portfolio development
Documented APIs, schema decisions, and at least one deployed backend service with clear setup instructions.
Career preparation
Use path projects as portfolio evidence. Add frontend later via the Full-Stack path if you want end-to-end ownership, or move into Experience Lab supervised backend work when you qualify.
What happens after completion
Supervised Experience Lab backend work, or add frontend via the full-stack path.
FAQ
Node.js/TypeScript, Python, and PHP are supported tracks. Pick based on the jobs or products you care about; the path builder keeps framework options aligned with your language.
About 5–8 months for the default skill set, depending on your pace and optional extras.
No. You need consistent practice, a computer, and willingness to debug. Prior programming helps but is not required for the beginner language skills in the path.
Yes. SQL is in the core sequence, and you choose PostgreSQL, MySQL, or MongoDB as your primary database skill for the path.