Engineering
Backend Development
Build the servers, APIs, and databases that power applications. By the end of the course, students should be capable of building and deploying a complete database-driven web application.
12 weeks Beginner to Job-ready Online, live + self-paced
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Course overview
Backend development focuses on the server-side logic, databases, APIs, authentication, security and infrastructure that power modern websites and applications.
Students will learn how a browser communicates with a server, how servers process requests, how databases store application data, how backend applications communicate with frontend applications through APIs, and how applications are securely deployed to production.
Learn server-side engineering: APIs, databases, authentication, security, and cloud deployment. You'll build robust, scalable backends that power web and mobile apps.
Learning outcomes
- Explain how the web and client-server architecture work.
- Configure domains, DNS and web hosting.
- Build server-side applications using modern PHP.
- Apply object-oriented programming principles in PHP.
- Design relational databases.
- Write intermediate and advanced SQL queries.
- Build secure CRUD applications.
- Connect PHP applications to MySQL.
- Use Composer and third-party PHP packages.
- Build applications with Laravel.
- Use MVC architecture.
- Build REST APIs.
- Work with JSON.
- Implement authentication and authorization.
- Apply backend security practices.
- Use Git and GitHub.
- Test and debug backend applications.
- Optimize database and application performance.
- Deploy backend applications to live servers.
- Build a portfolio-ready backend application.
Career opportunities
Backend Developer API Engineer Database Developer DevOps-leaning Engineer Backend Freelancer
Career pathway
- Start: Junior Backend Developer
- Grow: Senior Backend / Platform Engineer
- Lead: Backend Lead / Architect
- Alt: DevOps / cloud specialization
Course modules
1 Introduction to Backend Development & Web Architechture
Introduction to Backend Development
• What is Backend Development?
• Frontend vs Backend vs Full Stack
• What backend developers do
• Client-side vs server-side programming
• Static vs dynamic websites
• Web servers
• Application servers
• Databases
• APIs
• Backend frameworks
• Common backend technologies: PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, C#, Go, etc.
• Understanding the role of PHP in web development
How the Web Works
• Internet fundamentals
• Client-server architecture
• HTTP and HTTPS
• Request and response
• HTTP methods:
o GET
o POST
o PUT
o PATCH
o DELETE
• HTTP status codes
• Headers
• Cookies
• Sessions
• DNS
• IP addresses
• Ports
• Web servers
• Domain names
• SSL certificates
• What is Backend Development?
• Frontend vs Backend vs Full Stack
• What backend developers do
• Client-side vs server-side programming
• Static vs dynamic websites
• Web servers
• Application servers
• Databases
• APIs
• Backend frameworks
• Common backend technologies: PHP, Node.js, Python, Java, C#, Go, etc.
• Understanding the role of PHP in web development
How the Web Works
• Internet fundamentals
• Client-server architecture
• HTTP and HTTPS
• Request and response
• HTTP methods:
o GET
o POST
o PUT
o PATCH
o DELETE
• HTTP status codes
• Headers
• Cookies
• Sessions
• DNS
• IP addresses
• Ports
• Web servers
• Domain names
• SSL certificates
2 Domain, Web Hosting & Development Environment
Domains & DNS
• What is a domain name?
• Domain extensions
• Domain registration
• DNS
• A Records
• CNAME
• MX Records
• Nameservers
• DNS propagation
• Subdomains
• Connecting a domain to a server
Web Hosting & Servers
• What is web hosting?
• Shared hosting
• VPS
• Cloud hosting
• Dedicated servers
• Serverless concepts
• Apache
• Nginx
• PHP-FPM
• cPanel
• FTP/SFTP
• SSH
• Hosting databases
• Environment variables
• Production vs development environments
• What is a domain name?
• Domain extensions
• Domain registration
• DNS
• A Records
• CNAME
• MX Records
• Nameservers
• DNS propagation
• Subdomains
• Connecting a domain to a server
Web Hosting & Servers
• What is web hosting?
• Shared hosting
• VPS
• Cloud hosting
• Dedicated servers
• Serverless concepts
• Apache
• Nginx
• PHP-FPM
• cPanel
• FTP/SFTP
• SSH
• Hosting databases
• Environment variables
• Production vs development environments
3 PHP Fundamentals
PHP Programming Fundamentals
• PHP syntax
• Variables
• Constants
• Data types
• Operators
• Conditional statements
• Loops
• Arrays
• Functions
• Include/require
• PHP files
• PHP configuration
Modern PHP Programming
• Functions
• Type declarations
• Return types
• Scope
• String manipulation
• Array functions
• Date and time
• Error handling
• Exceptions
• Anonymous functions
• Arrow functions
• Modern PHP syntax
Introduction to OOP
• Classes
• Objects
• Properties
• Methods
• Constructors
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance
• Interfaces
• Traits
• PHP syntax
• Variables
• Constants
• Data types
• Operators
• Conditional statements
• Loops
• Arrays
• Functions
• Include/require
• PHP files
• PHP configuration
Modern PHP Programming
• Functions
• Type declarations
• Return types
• Scope
• String manipulation
• Array functions
• Date and time
• Error handling
• Exceptions
• Anonymous functions
• Arrow functions
• Modern PHP syntax
Introduction to OOP
• Classes
• Objects
• Properties
• Methods
• Constructors
• Encapsulation
• Inheritance
• Interfaces
• Traits
4 PHP Application Development
Forms & User Input
• HTML forms
• GET vs POST
• Form processing
• Server-side validation
• Sanitization
• Required fields
• Email validation
• File uploads
• Handling errors
• Redirects
Sessions, Cookies & Authentication Concepts
• Sessions
• Cookies
• Login/logout
• Password hashing
• Password verification
• Remember-me concepts
• Authentication vs authorization
• User roles
• Permissions
• Access control
• HTML forms
• GET vs POST
• Form processing
• Server-side validation
• Sanitization
• Required fields
• Email validation
• File uploads
• Handling errors
• Redirects
Sessions, Cookies & Authentication Concepts
• Sessions
• Cookies
• Login/logout
• Password hashing
• Password verification
• Remember-me concepts
• Authentication vs authorization
• User roles
• Permissions
• Access control
5 MySQL Database Developmet
Database Fundamentals
• What is a database?
• Relational databases
• MySQL
• Tables
• Rows
• Columns
• Primary keys
• Foreign keys
• Unique keys
• Data types
• Constraints
• Relationships
SQL Fundamentals
• CREATE
• INSERT
• SELECT
• UPDATE
• DELETE
• WHERE
• ORDER BY
• LIMIT
Advanced SQL
• Aggregate functions
• COUNT
• SUM
• AVG
• MIN
• MAX
• GROUP BY
• HAVING
• JOIN: INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN
• Subqueries
• Views
• Transactions
• What is a database?
• Relational databases
• MySQL
• Tables
• Rows
• Columns
• Primary keys
• Foreign keys
• Unique keys
• Data types
• Constraints
• Relationships
SQL Fundamentals
• CREATE
• INSERT
• SELECT
• UPDATE
• DELETE
• WHERE
• ORDER BY
• LIMIT
Advanced SQL
• Aggregate functions
• COUNT
• SUM
• AVG
• MIN
• MAX
• GROUP BY
• HAVING
• JOIN: INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN
• Subqueries
• Views
• Transactions
6 Database design & data Modeling
Database Design
• Database planning
• Requirements analysis
• Entities
• Attributes
• Relationships
• Primary keys
• Foreign keys
• One-to-one relationships
• One-to-many relationships
• Many-to-many relationships
• Junction/pivot tables
Introduction to ERD
Database Normalization & Data Modeling
• Database normalization
• 1NF
• 2NF
• 3NF
• Avoiding data duplication
• Referential integrity
• Cascading
• Indexes
• Database constraints
• Choosing appropriate data types
• Database planning
• Requirements analysis
• Entities
• Attributes
• Relationships
• Primary keys
• Foreign keys
• One-to-one relationships
• One-to-many relationships
• Many-to-many relationships
• Junction/pivot tables
Introduction to ERD
Database Normalization & Data Modeling
• Database normalization
• 1NF
• 2NF
• 3NF
• Avoiding data duplication
• Referential integrity
• Cascading
• Indexes
• Database constraints
• Choosing appropriate data types
7 PHP + MySQL Application development
Connecting PHP to MySQL
• PHP/MySQL architecture
• PDO
• MySQLi
• Database connections
• Prepared statements
• CRUD operations
• Error handling
• Database configuration
Secure Database Programming
• SQL injection
• Prepared statements
• Input validation
• Output escaping
• Password hashing
• Secure sessions
• File upload security
• Error handling
• Environment variables
• PHP/MySQL architecture
• PDO
• MySQLi
• Database connections
• Prepared statements
• CRUD operations
• Error handling
• Database configuration
Secure Database Programming
• SQL injection
• Prepared statements
• Input validation
• Output escaping
• Password hashing
• Secure sessions
• File upload security
• Error handling
• Environment variables
8 Backend frameworks & Laravel
Introduction to Backend Frameworks
Why use frameworks?
• Code organization
• Security
• Reusability
• Routing
• Middleware
• Database abstraction
• Authentication
• Testing
• Scalability
Framework comparison
• Laravel — PHP
• Express.js — Node.js
• NestJS — Node.js/TypeScript
• Django — Python
• FastAPI — Python
• Spring Boot — Java
Why Laravel?
• Modern PHP ecosystem
• MVC architecture
• ORM
• Routing
• Middleware
• Authentication
• Validation
• Queues
• Caching
• Testing
• API development
Laravel Fundamentals
• Installing Laravel
• Composer
• Laravel project structure
• Artisan
• Environment configuration
• .env
• Routes
• Controllers
• Views
• Blade
• Middleware
• Request/response lifecycle
Why use frameworks?
• Code organization
• Security
• Reusability
• Routing
• Middleware
• Database abstraction
• Authentication
• Testing
• Scalability
Framework comparison
• Laravel — PHP
• Express.js — Node.js
• NestJS — Node.js/TypeScript
• Django — Python
• FastAPI — Python
• Spring Boot — Java
Why Laravel?
• Modern PHP ecosystem
• MVC architecture
• ORM
• Routing
• Middleware
• Authentication
• Validation
• Queues
• Caching
• Testing
• API development
Laravel Fundamentals
• Installing Laravel
• Composer
• Laravel project structure
• Artisan
• Environment configuration
• .env
• Routes
• Controllers
• Views
• Blade
• Middleware
• Request/response lifecycle
9 Laravel Database, CRUD & APIs
Laravel Database & Eloquent ORM
• Database configuration
• Migrations
• Models
• Eloquent ORM
• Relationships
• Factories
• Seeders
• Query Builder
• CRUD
Relationships
• One-to-one
• One-to-many
• Many-to-many
• Eager loading
REST API Development
• What is an API?
• REST architecture
• API endpoints
• Resources
• JSON
• HTTP methods
• Status codes
• API authentication
• Request validation
• API responses
• Pagination
• Filtering
• Searching
• Database configuration
• Migrations
• Models
• Eloquent ORM
• Relationships
• Factories
• Seeders
• Query Builder
• CRUD
Relationships
• One-to-one
• One-to-many
• Many-to-many
• Eager loading
REST API Development
• What is an API?
• REST architecture
• API endpoints
• Resources
• JSON
• HTTP methods
• Status codes
• API authentication
• Request validation
• API responses
• Pagination
• Filtering
• Searching
10 Authentication, Authorization & Security
Authentication & Authorization
• Registration
• Login
• Logout
• Password hashing
• Authentication
• Authorization
• Roles
• Permissions
• Admin users
• Middleware
• API authentication
• Token-based authentication
• Session-based authentication
Backend Security
• OWASP Top 10
• SQL Injection
• XSS
• CSRF
• Broken access control
• Authentication failures
• Security misconfiguration
• File upload vulnerabilities
• Password security
• HTTPS
• Secure cookies
• Rate limiting
• CORS
• Secrets management
• Environment variables
• Registration
• Login
• Logout
• Password hashing
• Authentication
• Authorization
• Roles
• Permissions
• Admin users
• Middleware
• API authentication
• Token-based authentication
• Session-based authentication
Backend Security
• OWASP Top 10
• SQL Injection
• XSS
• CSRF
• Broken access control
• Authentication failures
• Security misconfiguration
• File upload vulnerabilities
• Password security
• HTTPS
• Secure cookies
• Rate limiting
• CORS
• Secrets management
• Environment variables
11 Testing, Debugging & Performance
Testing & Debugging
• Why testing matters
• Debugging methodology
• PHP errors
• Exceptions
• Logs
• Browser DevTools
• Laravel logs
• Unit testing
• Feature testing
• Integration testing
• API testing
• PHPUnit
• Pest
• Test-driven development concepts
Backend Performance Optimization
• Why applications become slow
• Database optimization
• Query optimization
• Indexing
• N+1 query problem
• Eager loading
• Pagination
• Caching
• HTTP caching
• OPcache concepts
• Image/file optimization
• Lazy loading
• Background jobs
• Queues
• Database connection optimization
• Why testing matters
• Debugging methodology
• PHP errors
• Exceptions
• Logs
• Browser DevTools
• Laravel logs
• Unit testing
• Feature testing
• Integration testing
• API testing
• PHPUnit
• Pest
• Test-driven development concepts
Backend Performance Optimization
• Why applications become slow
• Database optimization
• Query optimization
• Indexing
• N+1 query problem
• Eager loading
• Pagination
• Caching
• HTTP caching
• OPcache concepts
• Image/file optimization
• Lazy loading
• Background jobs
• Queues
• Database connection optimization
12 Deployment, DevOps & Final Project
Deployment & Production
• Development vs staging vs production
• Preparing application for production
• Environment variables
• Production database
• Database migrations
• Git deployment
• cPanel deployment
• VPS deployment concepts
• Apache/Nginx
• PHP-FPM
• SSL/HTTPS
• Domain configuration
• DNS
• File permissions
• Backups
• Error logging
• Monitoring
Introduction to CI/CD
• GitHub
• GitHub Actions concepts
• Automated testing
• Automated deployment
• Version control
Final Project Presentation & Assessment
Students deploy and present a complete backend application.
• Development vs staging vs production
• Preparing application for production
• Environment variables
• Production database
• Database migrations
• Git deployment
• cPanel deployment
• VPS deployment concepts
• Apache/Nginx
• PHP-FPM
• SSL/HTTPS
• Domain configuration
• DNS
• File permissions
• Backups
• Error logging
• Monitoring
Introduction to CI/CD
• GitHub
• GitHub Actions concepts
• Automated testing
• Automated deployment
• Version control
Final Project Presentation & Assessment
Students deploy and present a complete backend application.
Salary trend
Entry level₦220k–₦420k/mo
Mid level₦480k–₦900k/mo
Senior level₦1.1M+/mo
Estimated Nigerian market ranges; varies by role, company, and experience.
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