What is a Full-Stack Developer Exactly? A Complete Guide
- What is frontend web development?
This skillset involves the actual presentation of your website—how the information in your website is laid out in browsers and on mobile devices as well.
Everything that you actually see on a website—the layout, the positioning of text and images, colors, fonts, buttons, and so on—are all factors that the frontend developer must consider.
A dedicated frontend developer will be very experienced working with languages like:
HTML
JavaScript
CSS
TypeScript
With these languages, the developer can very efficiently manipulate the information on a website to make it appealing and effective.
The main goal of a frontend developer is to provide the platform for visitors to interact with, a platform which provides and receives information. This means some frontend developer skills include being well-versed in web and UX design and using tools such as Photoshop and Figma to create graphics and themed layouts. - Full stack course in Pune
Now that we know what the frontend is, let’s look at what coding “under the hood” is like.
2. What is backend web development?
Creation, edit/update, and collection of data are some of the processes that are most often associated with backend development.
Some examples of common backend scripting languages include:
Python
PHP
Go
JavaScript (with the help of Node.JS)
Ruby
SQL
With these languages, a backend developer can create algorithms and business logic to manipulate the data that was received in frontend development.
This means that a backend developer must be able to write code to receive the information input from the user and also save it somewhere–like in a database.
Relational databases, such as PostgreSQL and MySQL, and non-relational management systems, such as Mongo, are the two main categories of databases. The language used for database management is SQL, which helps the developer interact with the database. You can get started with it in our beginner’s guide to SQL.
Although the ideas may seem foreign, keep in mind that there are various database management systems based on their ease of use and convenience. Another component of backend development is server management, which are applications that host the database and serve up the website. An alternative to knowing how to manage servers is to use cloud-based platforms that provide the infrastructure, like Heroku or Amazon Web Services.
Understanding server management allows a developer to troubleshoot slow applications and even determine how scalable their websites are to include more users.
3. What is a full-stack developer?
Full-stack developers are experts in both the frontend and backend; so, the full-stack of technology that makes up a website.
They are proficient in both frontend and backend languages and frameworks, as well as in server, network and hosting environments.
To get to this breadth and depth of knowledge, most full-stack developers will have spent many years working in a variety of different roles. They also tend to be well-versed in both business logic and user experience, meaning they are not only well-equipped to get hands on, but can also guide and consult on strategy too.
If you’d like to look more closely at the range of skills required to make it, check out our guide to full-stack developer skills.
A note on frameworks
Frameworks have become popular resources for making many processes more efficient and convenient rather than having to develop complex proprietary code each time. Libraries like jQuery are extremely popular for frontend developers using JavaScript, as they can implement various functions that other developers have already cultivated and tested.
JavaScript frameworks like AngularJS and EmberJS solve many of the challenges faced by frontend developers by developing conventions that can easily be implemented with any website.- Full stack classes in Pune
On the backend, there are frameworks like Rails for the programming language of Ruby, Django and Flask for Python, and CakePHP for working with PHP.
The main purpose of frameworks is to make a developer’s job easier by developing a set of conventions that can be adopted for many of the different processes involved in creating a website—from how information is displayed to how it is stored and accessed in the database. If you want to look at them in more depth, we’ve created a beginner’s guide to web frameworks.
Now that you’ve learned what they actually are, another way to understand this job is by looking at what they do in their day-to-day.
A full-stack web developer reviewing code at work
4. What does a full-stack developer do?
They say you are what you do, so what does that mean when it comes to a full-stack developer?
Well, the answer there depends on several factors, mainly the type of company and industry they are working in.
It makes sense that a full-stack programmer working as a freelance developer will much more likely be working on every aspect of a project than one working as part of a team for a large multinational firm.
However, a general run-through of some full-stack developer responsibilities you might expect would be:
utilizing frontend code to design user interactions Ensuring webpages are mobile-optimized
Creating and maintaining databases and servers
Receiving design handoffs from UX and UI designers and coding them
Testing and debugging on both the front- and backend
Designing and developing functioning APIs
Writing documentation
Communicating with data scientists and analysts on the data architecture
Staying up-to-date on new technologies which could improve technology and customer experience
5. Why become a full-stack web developer?
Given the choice to specialize in frontend or backend development, why would any developer choose to learn the full spectrum?
It returns to the significance of having a T-shaped personality. You’re more valuable to a team when you are able to address and discuss both aspects of the web development process and bridge the disconnect.
In other words, one developer who can readily assess and communicate how a website should look, feel, and manipulate data while understanding the technical limitations of such implementations will be a respected and valuable member of any team or company. - Full stack Training in Pune
Are full-stack developers in demand?
In a nutshell, yes. A quick search shows that there are currently over 8,000 open full-stack developer positions in the US right now, according to job site Indeed.
Drilling down a little to “full-stack web developer” shows up over 5,000 openings, and that’s not even counting similar titles such “full-stack engineer”.
Needless to say this shows that is incredibly encouraging if you are looking for a career path that is flexible and generally recession-proof. But can you earn a good living from it?
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