The tools change, and the work keeps growing.

Connection Era · 1969

—

No matching role in this era yet

Web · 1994

Frontend (precursor)

Web production, hand-writing HTML and dealing with compatibility between IE and Netscape. The term “frontend” did not yet exist.

Community & Search Era · 2001

Frontend

Split off from "web production." The daily work is writing standards-compliant HTML/CSS, building interactions with Ajax and jQuery, and handling IE6 compatibility. During this period, major domestic companies set up dedicated frontend or UED teams.

Mobile Era · 2009

Frontend

Builds mobile H5 and responsive pages, uses Node.js for build tools and a middle layer, and SPA frameworks appear (AngularJS, and React in 2013).

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

Frontend

Engineering tooling (Webpack, TypeScript), "big frontend" (mini programs, cross-platform), the BFF layer, and the development of component libraries and design systems.

Large Model Era · 2023

Frontend

Using AI to generate and rewrite code, building conversational interfaces (streaming output, generative UI), and building operating interfaces for agents.

Connection Era · 1969

Backend

Systems programmers, writing operating systems, network protocol stacks, and Unix tools.

Web · 1994

Backend (precursor)

CGI, Perl, and ASP programmers, writing message boards, forums, and news publishing systems, using Access and MySQL databases.

Community & Search Era · 2001

Backend

Shifts toward high concurrency and distributed systems. The daily work is sharding databases and tables, adding caching, optimizing slow queries, and writing business logic in Java/PHP.

Mobile Era · 2009

Backend

Writes APIs, builds high-concurrency systems (flash sales, ticket rushes, red packets), and begins splitting services apart.

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

Backend

Microservices and cloud-native development, increasingly wired into data compliance requirements (masking, permissions, auditing).

Large Model Era · 2023

Backend

Wrapping business capabilities into tools the model can call (API/MCP), and handling asynchronous long-running tasks, cost and rate limiting.

Connection Era · 1969

—

No matching role in this era yet

Web · 1994

Product (precursor)

Portal channel editors and website planners, deciding what went in each channel and how pages were arranged.

Community & Search Era · 2001

Product

The product manager system spreads across internet companies. The daily work is writing requirement documents, drawing prototypes, following up on iterations, and reviewing user feedback.

Mobile Era · 2009

Product

Mobile product managers focus on growth, retention, and conversion, and "user growth" becomes a methodology.

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

Product

Data-driven product managers looking at funnels, running experiments and driving growth; the "strategy product manager" emerged.

Large Model Era · 2023

Product

AI product managers who define "the boundary of model capability plus a fallback experience", using evaluations to replace part of the requirements document.

Connection Era · 1969

—

No matching role in this era yet

Web · 1994

Design

Web graphic artists and web designers, whose daily work was slicing images, laying out pages with tables, and making Flash animations.

Community & Search Era · 2001

Design

Splits into interaction design and visual design, doing user research and usability testing, and establishing the UED way of working.

Mobile Era · 2009

Design

UI design moves from skeuomorphic to flat (iOS 7 in 2013), centering on app interfaces and icons, and design guidelines start to become systematic.

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

Design

Design systems, design tokens, co-building component libraries with engineering, and measuring experience.

Large Model Era · 2023

Design

AI-native interaction (conversation, multimodality, presenting uncertain results), with AI-generated assets entering the design workflow.

Connection Era · 1969

—

No matching role in this era yet

Web · 1994

—

No matching role in this era yet

Community & Search Era · 2001

Operations

Content, community, and e-commerce operations took shape in this period, corresponding to the operations role page `/roles/operations/`.

Mobile Era · 2009

Operations

User growth and campaign operations become the core work, corresponding to the operations role page `/roles/operations/`.

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

—

No matching role in this era yet

Large Model Era · 2023

—

No matching role in this era yet

Connection Era · 1969

Security

Incident responders, with the starting point being the Morris worm.

Web · 1994

Security

Engineers at antivirus and firewall vendors, and members of the early hacker community.

Community & Search Era · 2001

Security

Web security engineers and penetration testers, doing vulnerability scanning, MLPS assessments, and incident response.

Mobile Era · 2009

Security

Mobile application security and business security (anti-cheating, anti-fraud), with enterprise SRCs collaborating with white-hat hackers.

Cloud & Intelligence Era · 2016

Security

Expanding from offense and defense into compliance. New data security and privacy compliance roles appeared (the DPO under GDPR, the person in charge of personal information protection domestically), working on zero trust and supply chain security.

Large Model Era · 2023

Security

AI security (prompt injection, jailbreaks, the model supply chain), content security and filing compliance, and labeling of generated content.