{"id":7846,"date":"2019-10-09T09:33:15","date_gmt":"2019-10-09T13:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.brainstation.io\/?p=7846"},"modified":"2021-01-28T16:12:15","modified_gmt":"2021-01-28T21:12:15","slug":"what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth","title":{"rendered":"What Is a Full-Stack Developer (and Why Do Some Consider It a Myth)?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the development world, the seemingly innocuous job title \u201cFull-Stack Developer\u201d can spark some debate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The title seems simple enough: a Full-Stack Developer is someone who handles front- and back-end development. When you dig a bit deeper, though, you realize it\u2019s not that straight forward.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Let\u2019s take a closer look at the specific role of a Full-Stack Developer \u2013 and why some still see it as a controversial term.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><b>What is Front-End Development?<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Front-end development involves the &#8220;client-facing&#8221; side of web development. That is to say that it generally refers to the portion of the site, app, or digital product that users will see and interact with. A Front-End Developer, therefore, is responsible for the way a digital product looks and &#8220;feels,&#8221; which is why they are often also referred to as Web Designers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Front-End Developers will usually need&nbsp;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to possess a solid understanding of programming languages, including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as well as frameworks like React, Bootstrap, Backbone, AngularJS, and EmberJS.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Jobs in Front-End Development<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Unlike back-end development, there are a number of job titles that cover different skill sets and experience levels within front-end development, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>(The obvious) Front-End Developer<\/li><li>Front-End Engineer<\/li><li>CSS\/HTML Developer<\/li><li>Front-End Web Designer (this usually denotes a role that involves more visual and interaction design requirements)<\/li><li>Front-End User Interface Developer (covering interaction design skills)<\/li><li>Mobile Front-End Developer<\/li><li>Front-End SEO Expert (usually denoting a Developer with experience incorporating SEO strategy)<\/li><li>Front-End Accessibility Expert<\/li><li>Front-End Dev Ops<\/li><li>Front-End QA (involving unit testing, functional testing, user testing, and A\/B testing)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2><b>What is Back-End Development?&nbsp;<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If Front-End Developers are responsible for how a digital product looks, Back-End Developers are focused on how it works. This means they&#8217;re<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;responsible for overseeing what\u2019s under the hood, including database interactions, user authentication, server, network and hosting configuration, and business logic.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The primary responsibility of Back-End Developers is to ensure the functionality of the site, including its responsiveness and speed. To do that,&nbsp;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back-End Developers have to know how&nbsp;to build servers with modern frameworks (while developing custom APIs and serving static websites and files), and how to manage databases and data on a web server. Typically, they&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">use server-side languages, including PHP, Ruby, and Python, as well as tools including MySQL, Oracle, and Git.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2><b>What is a Full-Stack Developer?<\/b><b><\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A Full-Stack Developer is someone&nbsp;familiar with both front- and back-end development. They are generalists, adept at wearing both hats and familiar with every layer of development. Obviously, employers want to hire<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Full-Stack Developers \u2013 according to an Indeed <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">study, they are the fourth-most in-demand job in tech with<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the title is contentious, it&#8217;s in the generalist nature of the position.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developers who specialize in the front-end or back-end often bristle at the notion that someone could be equally adept at both \u2013 the expression \u201cjack-of-all-trades, master of none\u201d comes to mind.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cMy defensive tendencies are normally put on high alert when I hear that magic phrase (\u2018full-stack\u2019),\u201d <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/andyshora.com\/full-stack-developers.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">wrote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Front-End Developer Andy Shora. \u201cStacks are a lot bigger than what they used to be, and being able to claim one has acquired refined skills at every layer of web development is certainly not a small claim.&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Does this mean you have a broad range of skills or you specialize in everything?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While that perception persists, there still is<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;an increasing number of tech professionals who consider themselves Full-Stack Developers. According to Stack Overflow\u2019s <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2018 survey<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of Developers, 48.2 percent consider themselves Full-Stack Developers \u2013 up from <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">28 percent in 2016<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s unclear is whether&nbsp;<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developers are now expected to possess a broader skillset, or if&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Developers are taking it upon themselves to understand functions at both the front and back end. Either way, it&#8217;s becoming increasingly important for aspiring Developers to have a foundation in both.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor most people hoping to break into web improvement, you should center around working up an establishment in both front-end and back-end advancement first,\u201d <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@ansertechgeek\/front-end-vs-back-end-which-and-why-31c2a6b96b2c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">recommended<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&nbsp;Software Engineer and Tech Writer Muhammad Anser. \u201cAt that point, you can float towards a claim to fame later on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And with demand for Developers&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">expected to grow 15 percent<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> by 2026 (for 24,400 new jobs), much faster than the U.S. average rate of job growth, there may not be a better time to dive in and learn more about all the layers of Web Development.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ready to get started? BrainStation offers web development&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/course\/online\/remote-web-development-bootcamp?utm_source=BSTNblog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=Blog_FullStackDeveloper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Diploma programs<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/course\/intro-to-web-development?utm_source=BSTNblog&amp;utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_campaign=Blog_FullStackDeveloper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Certificate<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> courses.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the world of development, the term full-stack can spark some debate. We take a closer look at what being a Full-stack developer entails, and the skills you need to become one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":7850,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1066,97],"tags":[227,677,257,100],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v18.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is a Full-stack Developer (and Why Do Some Consider It a Myth)?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In the world of development, the term full-stack can spark some debate. We take a closer look at what being a Full-stack Developer entails, and the skills you need to become one.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is a Full-stack Developer (and Why Do Some Consider It a Myth)?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the world of development, the term full-stack can spark some debate. We take a closer look at what being a Full-stack Developer entails, and the skills you need to become one.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"BrainStation\u00ae Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-09T13:33:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-28T21:12:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2re7sjnpekmig.cloudfront.net\/prod\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/rich-tervet-662093-unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1160\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BrainStation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"BrainStation\u00ae Blog\",\"description\":\"The Digital Learning Company\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2re7sjnpekmig.cloudfront.net\/prod\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/rich-tervet-662093-unsplash.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2re7sjnpekmig.cloudfront.net\/prod\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/rich-tervet-662093-unsplash.jpg\",\"width\":1160,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"development\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth\",\"name\":\"What Is a Full-stack Developer (and Why Do Some Consider It a Myth)?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/what-is-a-full-stack-developer-and-why-do-some-consider-it-a-myth#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-09T13:33:15+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-28T21:12:15+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/brainstation.io\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9f37983a6c4da6cf5dd422481ac8cf11\"},\"description\":\"In the world of development, the term full-stack can spark some debate. 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