Full-stack developer and full-stack development, the two most talked about topics of recent times. Ever checked the careers page of a software development company?
You will see database administrators, design engineers, marketing managers, and full-stack developers. Ok, that’s a fanciful term, but what does that exactly mean. Is a software engineer a full-stack developer? Or is it that, full-stack developers have special powers to build an application?
In the real sense, full-stack developers are the ones who can work on the application and build the entire front-end and the back-end single-handedly. It is fascinating, isn’t it? Instead of hiring multiple developers, the company now needs to vest in a single person. But does this actually benefit the company, or is it there something really different in a software engineer and a full stack developer?
As much as the idea of hiring a full stack developer appeals to the company, the concept seems half-cooked and partially blurred. Why? While the answer to this requires an in-depth approach, and hence, we have this piece describing the myths and lies associated with a full-stack developer.
Without much ado, let’s get started.
You may also like to read; Cost to Hire Full Stack Developer
Top 7 Myths Associated With Full-stack Developer & Development
1. Software Engineers aren’t Full-stack Developers
Even though the development industry is mad about hiring full-stack developers, in reality, there isn’t any developer who isn’t full-stack. Even an engineer (Not every software engineer) is a full-stack developer; it is just that they don’t flaunt or use it as an acronym. It kind of put a weight on the worth and increases the possibility of being hired by the company.
For, if recruiters really knew what a full-stack developer means, they would not have advertised for such a position, instead opted for a software engineer. Why?
Let’s evaluate the different job profiles in the technical department or simply the IT sector. We have database administrators, design engineers, system administrators, security experts, etc. Now, these are people who excel in their department and hence the name. Do we name them as software engineers? No!
A database administrator works solely on DBS; security experts lead the encryption domain, system administrators work on OS, etc. However, a software engineer is one who has comprehensive knowledge of the front end, the back-end, and the database are called full-stack developers. This is the reason they are called as Software Engineers. The term itself is self-explanatory and doesn’t require one to add a prefix as a full-stack software engineer.
2. Full-stack Developer is More Efficient than Individual Front-end and Back-end Developer
Now that we know to hire software engineers are full-stack developers consider that a company hired a full-stack developer to build an application. Since the so-called full-stack developer is loaded with the work of designing the front end, the back end, and maybe the database also, the time consumed in doing all of this is higher.
Even though some are of the view that having a full-stack developer embeds consistency in the workflow, ensuring the front end and back-end working flawlessly, reality has a different tale to tell. You must validate the full-stack developer’s expertise with the latest front-end and back-end, else it may lead to a delay in inefficient results.
I won’t deny the fact that having an expert in each task is beneficial. A back-end developer that excels in the technology to build on and a front end developer who is the master of a front-end application framework. Not only do you get the best results but also reduce the time to market, enhancing your organizational performance and productivity. On the other hand, a full-stack developer can single-handedly get the job done. So, its true full-stack developers are more efficient than individual developers, but not in all the cases.
3. Full Stack Development is a skill
True that term, full-stack developer fascinates a lot of us, and some even consider it to be a special skill possessed by only a few developers. First things first, full-stack development is not a skill but a combination of different skills owned by a single developer. Now, what does this mean?
A full-stack developer is expected to know both the side of languages. And by every language, we mean the front-end and the back-end frameworks. The knowledge of front-end application development is in itself a skill. Similarly, the ability to build robust back-end applications is a skill possessed by a developer.
Full-stack developers are the engineers who possess excellence in working on both the front-end and the back-end of the application. They are well-versed in different technologies and corresponding stacks, facilitating the development process. So, a developer who has a combination of skills is a full-stack developer.
Having said that, one thing to note is nobody can have the knowledge of all the frameworks and technologies. Thus, with the few best technological combinations, the term full-stack has taken place. Earlier, there were only a few languages that constituted the full-stack arena. Today, the definition has changed, and there are many more layers added to the full-stack anatomy.
4. Every Project Requires Full-stack Developer
Even if someone goes to great lengths and is successful in hiring a full-stack developer, not all your projects require them. As mentioned above, full-stack developers possess different skills but do not demand to be in every product development, and not every project would render maximum performance when developed by a full-stack developer.
At times, it so happens that you need to build feature-rich applications with core elements belonging to a particular application. Suppose that an application requires in-depth knowledge of AWS and in such a scenario, assigning the job to a full-stack developer would do more harm, why?
Because some projects require expertise in a particular subject and your full-stack developer might not be able to deliver the same efficiency as possessed by an expert (AWS in this case)
5. Full-stack Development Reduces the Time to Market
Do you think this to be true?
Hypothetically, consider one developed working on a project and three different experts working simultaneously on the same project. Who do you think would be able the deliver the project faster and better?
Definitely the second one, right?
Where the single developer would require days to build the front end, the back-end, and then merge it together, a team of experts would be able to do the same task in say, a week or maybe less. Collaboration is the key, and the quality delivered by experts is always one step ahead than that of an average. Not to mention that having different people add variety to the project and leads to better results.
6. Full-stack Developers Know Every Language
Another common myth associated with a full-stack developer is that they possess skills in every language. But do you think this practical? As far as reality goes, there are tons of languages, and if you believe that your developer must be an expert in all, you are living in an imaginary world. For a developer to know all types of coding or know every development language, nothing works well.
True that the developers must possess significant knowledge on the front-end and the back-end of the application, but expecting the same to know all types of coding language is asking a lot more than what a human can offer.
While they are a few developers who go beyond the traditional limits of learning and acquiring a skill but here again, a full-stack developer cannot have the propensity to work on every other language or framework.
7. Full-stack Development is the need of the hour.
Finally, the biggest term won’t be considered as the myth, because we all need a full-stack developer. Have you ever given a thought to this? Why would you need to hire a full-stack developer?
True that the term is trending and hiring managers are emphasizing the full-stack staffing developers, and it is indeed profitable.
Given the perks offered by a domain expert, the services provided by a full-stack developer is undoubtedly profitable. Start-ups are highly fascinated by the thought of cutting down their expenses by hiring a single developer. The full-stack developer definitely does by providing fail efficient results.
Conclusion
Are you wondering if you should hire a full-stack developer? The choice of picking one or not depends on you and your specific product development requirements. What’s important is to prioritize your needs to find the best talent.
Companies also overlook the fact that a developer and a consultant solve different problems; our side-by-side comparison of full stack consultant vs full stack developer helps clarify which role your stage of work actually calls for.
A developer is a developer, understands the difference and please act wisely. If you are looking for the best full-stack development company, who have accumulated unrivaled experience in working with front-end as well as back-end technologies, then you have landed on the right blog post. Leverage our IT staff augmentation services to craft pixel-perfect web applications, SaaS applications, web portals, and much more.
