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That's why we call ourselves back-end/front-end/ui/embedded (software) engineers.

One problem I have w/ the back-end/front-end distinction is that at least to me that implies one is working on a web or mobile application.

For instance, the product I work on daily has no UI (ok, it has a 2 page UI used by an ops group) - is that "back end" when there's no "front end"?

Your front-end is your 2 page report. It's not about size but separation of concerns, nothing to do specifically with web apps.

Right, although to me "back end" implies "feeding the front end" which isn't the case here, rather that 2 page report is more of a side channel and the consumer is another data processing engine.

And apologies - this is a bit OT here and I'm not trying to be difficult nor argumentative, I've just often wondered if the majority of people view backend/frontend as specialized terms like I do or if it's really just a generic term for "works on visualization/UI" and "works on the other stuff"

And what is the front-end of a microcontroller? GPIO pins?

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