Backend

roadmap.sh: https://roadmap.sh/backend

Suggested path through the Backend nodes. Each node links to its lesson when written.

Nodes

Internet fundamentals

• How does the internet work
• What is HTTP
• HTTPS / TLS
• What is a domain name
• What is hosting
• DNS and how it works
• Browsers and how they work

Programming language

• Pick a language (JavaScript / TypeScript)
• Python
• Go
• Java
• C#
• Rust
• PHP
• Ruby

Version control & repo hosting

• Git
• GitHub
• GitLab
• Bitbucket

Web servers

• Learn about web servers
• Nginx
• Apache
• Caddy
• MS IIS

Relational databases

• PostgreSQL
• MySQL
• MariaDB
• MS SQL Server
• Oracle
• Database indexes
• Normalization
• Transactions
• ACID
• Migrations

NoSQL databases

• MongoDB
• Redis
• DynamoDB
• Cassandra
• CouchDB
• Firebase / Firestore
• Document vs key-value vs column vs graph

Scaling databases

• Database replication
• Sharding strategies
• CAP theorem
• Data consistency models
• Failure modes

APIs

• Learn about APIs
• REST
• JSON APIs
• GraphQL
• gRPC
• SOAP
• HATEOAS
• Open API / Swagger
• Long polling / short polling
• Server-sent events
• WebSockets

Authentication

• Authentication concepts
• Basic authentication
• Token-based auth
• JWT
• OAuth 2.0
• Cookie-based auth
• OpenID

Web security

• Hashing (bcrypt, MD5, SHA)
• HTTPS
• CORS
• Content Security Policy (CSP)
• SSL / TLS
• OWASP security risks
• Server security

Caching

• Caching concepts
• CDN
• Server-side caching (Redis, Memcached)
• Client-side caching
• HTTP caching

Testing

• Integration testing
• Functional testing
• Unit testing
• Load testing

CI/CD

• CI/CD concepts
• Build pipelines
• Code reviews

Architecture & design

• Microservices
• Monolithic apps
• SOA
• Serverless
• Architectural patterns
• Integration patterns
• Building for scale
• Twelve-factor apps

Message brokers & search

• Message brokers
• RabbitMQ
• Kafka
• Search engines
• Elasticsearch

Containerization & web servers

• Docker
• Kubernetes
• LXC
• Reverse proxy

Observability & resilience

• Instrumentation
• Monitoring
• Telemetry
• Graceful degradation
• Backpressure
• Circuit breaker
• Load shifting

Real-time data & GraphQL

• WebSockets
• GraphQL subscriptions
• Apollo / Relay

AI in the backend

• How LLMs work
• Embeddings
• Function calling / tool use
• Agents
• Model Context Protocol (MCP)
• AI-assisted coding
• RAG basics

Resources

See resources.md.

Project ideas

• Build a REST + GraphQL API for a task manager with PostgreSQL, JWT auth, and rate limiting.
• Add Redis caching and a Kafka-driven async worker to an existing CRUD service, then load-test it.
• Containerize a microservice with Docker, add health checks, structured logging, and a CI/CD pipeline.