Full-stack developer was once the highest compliment a developer could receive. Something that pretty much everyone in the software development industry strived for. The one-man-army developer was once a powerful and viable idea for many companies. But does this idea still hold today? What has happened to full-stack developers?
It seems we don’t hear about full-stack developers anywhere near as often as we used to. Does it mean that developers specialized to the point that web programmers well balanced between frontend and backend hardly exist anymore? Or perhaps this title simply is not as hot as it used to be?
Full-stack developers back in the day
There was a time when companies were ready to sell an arm and a leg for a full-stack developer. A programmer liked this could use PHP and SQL to operate and maintain the web application and knew enough HTML, CSS and JavaScript to implement all kinds of features necessary for business.
Back when the digital world progressed to the point that the internet ceased to be an exciting innovation and became the centerpiece of the modern business, these skills were not sufficient to carry the digital transformation.
One for all vs all for one
There are some who believe that today almost all companies can be defined as technological companies. Through their applications, they market, sell and manage everything concerning their organization. The quality of development and deployment can make or break a business. The scale of doing things increased greatly. One-for-all experts were replaced by devs who specialize in particular technologies and know how to efficiently work as part of a bigger team focused on continuous delivery – all for one.
Full-stack – the new definition
However, it doesn’t mean that there is no longer a need for the term “full-stack developer”. A lot of skilled devs have background in both backend and frontend. They can use it to help manage large projects, as they are more likely to communicate well with all members of the team. Devs like these may not make the whole application by themselves, but they can have an influence on every aspect of it. Such devs make great project managers, team leaders, or even CTOs.
The modern web development stack
For a full-stack developer to be called like this, there needs to be a stack. What makes a web development stack? As it has been the case for many years, the essential pieces of it are a frontend solution, a backend solution and a database. Today, developers can choose from many more viable options for each of these categories. Find out more about modern web development stacks. But keep in mind that today they are primarily important as a way to decide which technologies you should use for your own project. The team that will be in charge of making it a reality will be composed of many specialists that best work in tandem – all for one.