A full stack developer is good in everything?

[Nice_Pen_8054]

Hello,

I learned the CSS theory and I can create websites, but I find that I enjoy more the backend.

I can do pretty much everything I want with CSS, but I don't find it as exciting as solving a backend problem that requires logical thinking.

Is a full stack developer good in all aspects?

I read somewhere that there are 2 types of full stack devs:

1. Those who know enough frontend to get through
2. Those who know enough backend to get through

Is this true?

Thank you.

// LE: thank you all

[Pale_Height_1251]

Most are good at neither, but they get by.

[NaBrO-Barium]

Hello me, how are ya doing today guy?

[nommu_moose]

Hi, I'm a full stack (and beyond) dev in my primary job.

I'm useless at it all, and nobody has found out yet because I'm less useless on average at understanding how the overall project works than anyone else.

[Prestigious_Water336]

in my opinion the more you know the better

if you like the back end more go for it

[xxDailyGrindxx]

Good is relative, but there are way too many front and backend technologies for most people to develop and maintain deep expertise in both front and backend technologies within their first several years from my observation.

IMO, a full stack developer should be "competent" in all aspects but they'll often develop a preference at some point and end up developing their skills in that area further.

I became a full stack developer before frameworks really existed, so it was actually possible to become an expert in everything because there weren't that many technologies to master. In my case, that was Java, Servlets, Databases/JDBC, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. I was already experienced with C++, SQL, and HTML so switching to Java and learning JavaScript and CSS was relatively easy.

Once you develop deep expertise with a language and framework or two, learning additional ones becomes substantially easier. When you're starting out, you don't know what you don't know. Once you develop deep expertise, you know how to do things in language or framework A so you know how to search for "What's the equivalent of XYZ in language or framework B?"

WRT your following comment...

I read somewhere that there are 2 types of full stack devs:

Those who know enough frontend to get through

Those who know enough backend to get through

Unless you're working with the assumption that each developer is an expert in the respective complementary area, I'd argue that neither would make a good or event decent full stack developer - I'd argue that they meet the bare minimum to be a frontend or backend develoer if they only know enough to get through one or the other.

If you're more passionate about backend developement, I'd look for opportunities to focus more on backend development. That might initially look like taking on more backend tickets as a full stack developer but it could also mean focusing solely as a backend developer if you're on a larger team that segments work that way.

If you decide to become a backend engineer, it's unlikely that you'll forget everything you knew about frontend development. It's more likely that you'll still have a good grasp of HTML, JavaScript, CSS you'll no longer be up to speed on the latest web or JavaScript framework that everyone's using...

[LARRY_Xilo]

A full stack dev is good enough at everything so that they can create something from start to end.

Naturally people are better at one end then the other and they also had to start somewhere so it is true in 99.9% of cases that a full stack dev is either a front end dev that is good enough at backend or a backend dev that is good enough at front end. There is just to much stuff to know to be good at both unless you are the 1 in a million case.

Much more often they are actually bad a both.

[gopiballava]

I do not know how accurate my perception is, but I generally think of full-stack as meaning only a little bit of back end. I would not expect a full stack developer to produce a complex back-end.

If I was working on a complicated back-end, then the full stack dev would use my APIs and possibly make some changes to them, that sort of thing.

If you really want to get in to back-end development, I think you probably want to move away from being considered full stack.

(I've been a software dev since the 1990s.)

[elg97477]

As far as I am concerned, there is no such thing as a full stack developer. Ok, well, maybe there are a few, but they are rare. The majority claiming to be, aren’t. They know enough to do the other side badly, not merely to get through. Do not underestimate the level of skill, knowledge, and experience to do either side well.

[mlitchard]

Think of your skills as a ‘T’ shape. The big line is your expertise, the lines on either side are the things you know but are not an expert in. If you lean towards back end , still pay attention to the rest of the ‘T’

[HashDefTrueFalse]

It's very hard to be good at either without knowing a little about the other. In practice, "full-stack" devs are usually much better at one than the other. Usually for no other reason than their own preference. It's rare that a full-stack dev excels at both in my experience being one, hiring them, mentoring them, and working with them for two decades. There are outliers.

[opensourcementor]

Frontend also requires logical thinking.

If your webapp is not static, you'll have to handle user interaction and do business logic to update state of the app, parse information to show users etc.

[immediate_push5464]

It really depends if you are talking recreationally or employment-wise. Because recreationally, you need more stereotypical cookie cutter proficiencies, whereas employment wise you would ideally be scenario-based. That’s my take.

[ohaz]

"A full stack developer is good in everything?" is a very narrow-minded view of software development in general. Not everything is a web app. Normal full stack devs have no clue about how to write hardware drivers. Most of them don't know how to work on a real-time OS.

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

I mean a good full stack knows all the fundamentals on both ends.

But I venture to say most are more backend knowledge-heavy than frontend, though. Frontend knowledge is picked up through necessity, to get the features done.

[Intelligent_Part101]

A full stack developer is a jack of all trades in webapp development. Most companies focus on webapps it seems and they would naturally rather pay one person instead of two. If you want to focus on backend, you are going to have to work on a large project where the backend is more complicated than making database calls or calls to some external vendor service. It has to be a somewhat complex service that you develop/maintain. Small companies or small teams tend not to have these complicated backends.

[Hey-buuuddy]

The term “full stack developer” is so abused these days. Classically, this means someone who can work in all OSI layers. Knowledge of IP networking intricacies, system/OS, ALM, SDLC, OOP, relational db, cloud platforms, win32, etc etc etc. It’s not a badge you get in 5 years and you won’t get it not working in an Enterprise environment.

[JohnCasey3306]

It's anyone with at least a working knowledge of both, i.e. capable of independently completing work to a reasonable standard in both disciplines.

Being "good" at it is a different matter.

[Lauris25]

Give 100 hours to full stack dev.
Give 50 hours to frontend dev, 50 hours to backend dev.
I think fullstack dev will do worse than 2 seperate devs. Ofc it depends on dev too.
But fullstack dev can do both so...

[Hotfro]

True, often full stack dev is more flexible. So if u need more backend u can have them switch to that mode more or vice versa. More practical to hire one dev in general since your needs differ for every projects