One thing that backend slowly taught me...
When I started learning backend, my focus was always on the happy path.
I used to think, user sends the correct data, backend processes it, response goes back. If that flow was working, I felt like "okay, it's done."
But with time I realized that's only one side of the story.
Now, whenever I build something, I spend more time thinking about the unhappy path.
What if the data is wrong?
What if the user doesn't send a required field?
What if the database is down?
What if the server throws an error?
What if I missed an edge case?
What if someone is intentionally trying to break the API?
These are the questions I didn't ask myself before.
Thinking about validation, proper logging, error handling, security, and all those small edge cases has changed how I write code.
Sometimes I even try to think like a bad guy. If I wanted to misuse this API, where would I attack first? That simple shift in thinking has helped me notice things I would have ignored before.
I'm still learning, but this is one lesson that really changed my mindset.