Who is a Full Stack Developer & Should You Become One
Depending on who you talk to these days, the definition of a full stack developer differs. From ‘wholesome developers’ to ‘complete developers’ and even ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ are just a few of the names that developers have come across.
When development was just taking off, there were no front end or back end or even full stack developers — there was just developers. These developers would work on whatever their skill set required from designing the UI to doing some hardcore server side scripting. However, as the number of technologies grew within each segment, the developers started segmenting themselves according to different domains — frontend, backend, database, etc.
The term full stack developer didn’t gain a significant following until recently and now has made a huge wave in the development market. Almost every full stack developer article or blog has this information in it — that in it’s initial stages, Facebook ‘allegedly’ was only looking to hire full stack developers. And, it isn’t wrong; but that doesn’t mean that full stack development didn’t not exist before that.
Before we get any further in this discussion, let’s first answer this main important question.
Q. What is a Full Stack Developer? A Full Stack developer often sets a lot of developers on edge and since it has no set definition, this can often be a confusing term to define. Let’s simplify this term though. A Full Stack Developer is simply a developer that works on multiple technologies across multiple domains. In short, a full stack developer can create a complete website or app from scratch — start to finish.
There are always those who like to get technical and argue that stack are often so large, how can someone be expected to understand and master all the technologies.
They may not be masters across all domains — frontend, backend, database, OS, etc.; but they can definitely work with it to create a functional product. These are essentially full stack developers. However, Full Stack Developers can also be of different kind, depending on the technologies they know. They don’t need to know each and every technology within each domain, but they must know at least one or two technologies.
So, the next time you hear the word Full Stack, don’t panic.
Benefits of a Full Stack Developer
There are many different reasons why one should definitely opt to become a full stack developer.
•Employability: The rate of employment available for a full stack developer is high. Employee’s definitely want to hire less personnel who can do more and with multiple full stack developers, they can eliminate the need for more developers in different segments. This results in full stack developers often being chosen over single domain developers.
•Seamless: A full stack developer can create a far more seamless and fluid product that doesn’t seem like pieces of puzzles put together. If each developer only works on one section of an app, they might not always agree with the other developer and the result can be disastrous. If one person is working on the entire app, the app is more likely to be the better and more effective.
•Adaptability: As a developer, you can definitely jump from one part of your app to another without having additional overhead. And constant transitioning from one aspect of the app to another makes developers more adaptable. The adaptability also counts in terms of new technologies, as these developers must definitely grasp updates faster across multiple domains.
•Effective conversations: As a developer who has been working on the entire app, asking other developers for what they need often becomes easier. If a frontend developers, requires something from a backend developer, there is somewhat of a disconcert between the conversation. However, if two people working on the entire app together can have more effective conversations about the app.
Limitations of a Full Stack Developer While the previous section spoke about the benefits of being a full stack developer, there are a few limitations that come with the job title.
•New Technologies: At the rate the technologies are growing, full stack developers are definitely having a hard time with updating themselves with the latest technologies. Also, originally the stacks were small with only a few technologies that they were required. However, these days the stacks are enormous with multiple technologies in each section — resulting in a lot of learning for Full Stack Developers.
•Adaptability: As the developers work on multiple domains, they must be able to constantly shift back and forth between the different segments, which requires a lot of patience.
•Lack of expertise: Since, full stack developers must learn multiple technologies, they don’t delve deep into each specific technology, but simply learn the basics and master only certain important things that they might need. In some cases, they might not utilize the best practices.
While some people are always ready for the challenge that comes with being a full stack developer, the others prefer specializing in only one aspect. However, we cannot deny
that Full Stack Development is definitely a growing field within the development community and employers.
If you want to boost your skills and upgrade yourself to a Full Stack Developer, you can definitely check out this brilliant course by Eduonix. It encompasses learning Full Stack in its entirety as well as breaks each and every technology down into smaller easier to understand sections.