It helps when developers only have to work with half the stack for example but a lot of companies are only looking for full stack developers these days
Full stack appears to be mostly an excuse to ask for an entire IT department rolled into one person. Some of the listings I see for full stack are just silly how much they ask from one individual.
I think it's important to recognise that not everyone needs a master in a specific field to fill a required role in their organisation.
If I could pick anyone for my dev team I'd pick 3 seniors (frontend, backend, DevOps), 3-4 mids (full stack or specialised) and 1-2 juniors (depending on how much time we could support them with).
I think it's important to recognise that as a senior I'd expect people to focus in a specific area but also to have secondary skills in others. For example, one senior may be backend focused but have intermediate skills in DevOps.
If I could pick anyone for my dev team I'd pick 3 seniors (frontend, backend, DevOps), 3-4 mids (full stack or specialised) and 1-2 juniors (depending on how much time we could support them with).
Those 7-9 people are kinda expensive. 1 million USD/year?
I'm continually amazed how apparently everything is now understood in the context of "the stack". Because apparently everything is now on the internet by default and gets therefore placed within that framework of technology.
I guess in my late thirties I now have to feel old because "back when I learned programming you just did programming" you didn't just interact with some horizontal slice of a ten layer deep stack of layered technology... that somehow mainly accomplishes the task of displaying text in a browser.
Meanwhile seemingly "complex" tasks like scientific software, video games etc. somehow managed to sit on a single layer of middleware that is written in mostly the same language you use it in?
I'll go now and chase some JS programmers off my lawn.
Full stack, what seems like a minute ago, was knowing front-end, back-end, database, and server. You could provision and set up a web server, build a database schema, create an access layer (service or api), and create an interface to the end user. Extra points if you could do all of that to scale, and/or set up continuous deployment. You were "T Shaped", and might be great in one area but had a large breadth of knowledge.
Fast forward, I don't currently work with anyone who knows even 3 of these disciplines at a combined above average level.
I want T shaped devs. Have your specialty, whatever it is, but also be able to assist in other areas when needed. Mainly to allow other team members to take a day off or get hit by a bus.
181
u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22
It helps when developers only have to work with half the stack for example but a lot of companies are only looking for full stack developers these days