[TylerE]

I guess I would respond to that by saying that both sides have moved. Really what was "back end" 10 or 15 years ago is closer to devops than what most would call backend.

Would you expect these new backend folks to be able to, take, say, a clean linux install and build a relatively full stack on top of that - Apache config, firewall, that sort of thing?

[whstl]

Yeah, that's definitely true. Today I see lots of backend devs who don't even know how to setup deployment in AWS using any of their services, let alone how to deploy to another cloud service or VPS/dedicated server.

I remember this changing around 2015 or so, when I started getting the first batch of devs that only knew how to deploy using the one single way they learned, and never updated that. I specifically remember one dev that was coding for 3, 4 years saying his dream was to make and deploy his own website. He never had a personal project.

Which is perfectly fine, don't get me wrong. The part I'm not a fan of is the culture against people who can do multiple things well. Which, funny enough, I am required to do in my job (I have to do most DevOps, plus mentor frontend and backend devs).