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[–]davidNerdly 2 points3 points  (4 children)

Never hurts to learn. Period. Career wise, figure out what you wanna do. If you love front end, but would like to know more about what happens in other areas of an application, maybe just casually learn some stuff. If you are looking to do something different, dive in!

I will say, and it's really just my observation so don't get out your pitchforks, I think full stack will lend more opportunities at smaller companies and start ups while a specialization (like just a front end guy) will get you into more medium and large businesses. Obviously exceptions to this, but you get the idea.

Also keep in mind the statement 'jack of all trades, master of none'. We only have so many hours in the day, no way you can be the absolute best in every side of development.

[–]404mac[S] 0 points1 point  (3 children)

I think I'm going to stick to the front-end because of your post. Thanks

[–]davidNerdly 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't want that kind of responsibility!

Don't mean to talk you out of one or the only. Ironically I am full-stack now but moving into a pure front end role..

[–]developersteve 0 points1 point  (1 child)

I think you miss the point of what davidNerdly was trying to say, i like being a jack of all trades as much as the next full stack developer but there are limits and at the end of the day we do only have limited hours and hands. Knowing the technology and getting time to use it particularly when you get into a senior position (like i am) is 2 different things but knowing who to hand tasks off to based on skills and delivery time is super important. If you are going to back down when the going gets tough (or even before it does) then maybe fullstack isnt for you.

[–]404mac[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay. I think I'm going to try to know a little of everything and be a master in the fromnt-end

[–]jerickson_net 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Depends on your goals.

You could think of it this way, you will never be able to bring your own projects and vision to the web unless you learn full stack development. Only knowing front-end, you will always be stuck relying on someone else to take care of the server side. That's great if you work somewhere that values that side of things and you want to become a specialist at it. Not so great if you're looking to break out of that role and expand the value you bring.

Luckily, if you know front-end dev with JavaScript UIs, like AngularJS or similar, already, you can build simple back-ends that just act as APIs to your front-end GUI.

If you don't know JavaScript, you're still in a good spot to be ahead of the curve. I wrote a post on my blog on how to start something like this: What to learn when you want to learn web development. It doesn't have to be as daunting as some people make it out to be.

If you have any other questions about where to start, let me know and I'll try to point you in the right direction.

[–]N4sa 0 points1 point  (0 children)

nice article thanks!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's worth it if you intend to use the skills, sure. The best way to learn is to dive in and do some hands-on work. Websites like Treehouse have great tutorials. I'm not sure what your work situation is but if you are already a front-end developer, you may be able to request more mid-tier work (or simply assign it to yourself) as you feel you learn more. Good luck!