Who Is a Full Stack Developer?

Full stack developer

Full stack developer is probably the most in-demand job today. In this article, let's understand full stack development and what it takes to become a full stack developer. This article covers the following topics:

• What is full stack development?
• What are full stack development technologies?
• What is a full stack developer?
• How to become a full stack developer?
• What are the benefits of a full stack developer?
• What are the salaries of full stack developers?

If you pay any attention to software development, I'm sure you've heard of the full stack developer job. A full stack developer is a software developer, web developer, or software engineer who works on all website or software application layers. If you search job boards such as Indeed or LinkedIn jobs, you will find more than 10,000 full stack developer jobs.

Let us take an example of web development. A typical website or application has three layers broken down based on the expertise level: a front-end, a middleware/middle layer (API or service or library), and a backend layer followed by a data source. Traditionally, software developers and engineers specialize in one layer of it. For example, a front-end developer is good at creating user interfaces and often seen as an expert in creating user experiences.

A backend developer is good at understanding data and creates a middleware service or API that bridges the data storage and the front-end UI.

The backend data store is usually a database for storing and managing the data. Database Administrators (DBAs) are responsible for managing databases and data.

A full stack developer is a software developer who can build front-end user interfaces (web pages), business logic, and algorithms, and also write code that interacts with the database and passes data back and forth between the front end and the data store and sometimes can also work with databases directly, such as creating queries and procedures.

Software Stack

Before we delve deep into the full stack developer role, let's understand the full stack.

A software stack is a package of software products that allows software developers to build complete software applications. A software stack may or may not include an operating system but t; they often have front-end, backend, database, and service/middle layer technologies.

A software stack that provides software to build complete software applications is called a full stack. A developer who isn't in a full stack is called a full-stack developer.

Software stacks can be further broken down into web development, front-end, back-end, etc.

Web development stacks

To keep things simple, let's focus on web development stacks, the software stacks used to build web applications.

Here is a list of the common web development stacks:

• MEAN (MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, Node)
• MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node)
• MEVN (MongoDB, Express.js, Vue.js, Node)
• LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
• WISA (Windows, IIS, SQL Server, ASP.NET)
• Serverless Stack
• .NET Stack (.NET, C#, Blazor)

MEAN stack

MEAN is a web development stack. MEAN is short for MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, and Node. By using the MEAN stack, you can build complete web applications. Let's review these technologies briefly.

MongoDB is a document-based open-source NoSQL database. In The EAN stack, MongoDB is used to store the data of the application.

ExpressJS is the middleware and sits between Angular and Node as a part of the MEAN stack. ExpressJS is a NodeJS framework for creating server-side applications. In addition, xpressJS provides many shorthand methods for writing the functionality provided by NodeJS.

Angular is an open-source, JavaScript-based client-side framework used to build web application user interfaces In MEAN stack; Angular is used to create the front end. Therefore, angular requires an understanding HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and TypeScript.

Node or Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform JavaScript-based server-side runtime framework. In MEAN, the tack, Node, is used to write server-side code with business logic, data layers, and other web server functionality.

Here is a detailed article on MEAN stack: What is MEAN stack

MERN stack

MERN is short for MongoDB, Express.js, React, and Node. Everything in the MERN stack is similar to the MEAN stack, except React, a front-end library that replaces the Angular front-end framework.

React allows developers to create large web applications that can change data without reloading the page. The primary purpose of React is to be fast, scalable, and simple. It works only on user interfaces in the application. This corresponds to the view in the MVC template. It can be used with a combination of other JavaScript libraries or frameworks, such as Angular JS in MVC.

MEVN stack

MEVN is short for MongoDB, Express.js, Vue.js, and Node. Like MEAN and MERN, everything stays the same, except the front end is developed using Vue. the JavaScript library.

LAMP stack

LAMP is short for Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Python/PERL. As you may guess, the technologies used in LAMP stack development differ slightly from the previous stacks. Here, Linux is the operating system, and Apache is the web server hosting a web application. The backend database is MySQL, and f, front-end, and backend code are developed in PHP, Python, or PERL. In addition, several popular CMS, such as WordPress, is developed in the LAMP stack.

WISA stack

WISA is short for Windows, IIS, SQL Server, and ASP.NET. This is a Microsoft stack to build Web applications. In the WISA stack, Windows Server is the operating system, IIS is the web server, SQL Server is the backend database, and ASP.NET is the application development framework for both front-end and back-end.

Serverless stack

A serverless stack is a new concept where no one server is involved in a software stack to build, deploy, and run software applications. Instead, it is a cloud stack where data may be stored in different data sources on the cloud; a Web API or web service is used to get data from the data sources, and the application can be all kinds of web, mobile, and other client applications—CCloud-natives such an architecture.

The demand for serverless stacks is growing rapidly. To learn more about cloud cloud-native is a well-detailed article: Are you Cloud Native?

.NET Stack

You can use .NET to build full stack applications, and b and y just learning .NET, you can become a full-stack developer. Your backend database can be any database. It doesn't matter if you use SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, Postgresql, Azure SQL, or others. The .NET full-stack technologies look like this:

• Data source: Any database
• Backend: Web API, Services developed using .NET
• Front-end: Blazor Server or Blazor WebAssembly 

If you're a .NET developer, this is probably the fastest way to become a full stack developer. You will build your front-end in Blazor, which is again C# and HTML/CSS and y, ou will backend using C# and .NET. 

What are the expectations of a full stack developer?

When a company hires a full-stack developer, the company expects that the developer is experienced enough to build an entire stack by themself without needing help from other senior experts.

Here is a list of expectations from a full stack developer. 

• Work with business stakeholders to understand requirements and propose solutions
• Build.. proof of concepts (POCs) and demonstrate to business stakeholders
• Good at writing business logic and problem solutions
• Analyze and propose optimal and best available solutions
• Can work on the entire stack of software development, including front-end, middleware, and backend
• Can lead a small team of developers and help them technically
• Understand software architecture concepts such as design patterns and best practices
• Hands-on with front-end technologies such as JavaScript and HTML
• Can test and debug issues in code
• Experienced in DevOps, CI/CD to help and manage build and deployment pipelines
• For cloud developers, experience in cloud technologies
• Minimum 5fiveyears of experience in software development

Now, let's put this in perspective. If you want to become a full stack .NET developer, here is a good article, Skills Required to Become a Full Stack .NET Web Developer.

What is the salary of a full stack developer?

According to Salary.com, Indeed, and Glassdoor, the average salary of a full stack developer is about $110k a year in the US. The salary range for a full stack developer in the US is between $80k to $125k a year. The salary of a full stack developer also depends on the number of years of experience, location, and industry. For example, a full-stack developer in New York City working in the financial sector may earn 50% more than a full-stack developer working in the construction industry in Lancaster, PA.

How long does it take to become a full stack developer?

Most of the full stack developers are often senior developers and engineers who have been writing code for several years, at least more than 5fiveyears. It doesn't mean you can't be a full stack developer in less years, but it will take tons of learning. To become a full stack developer, you need to be proficient in all software stack layers. Being a full stack developer means you are by yourself without anyone else's help, and you can build an entire application from the backend to the front end.

How can I become a full stack developer?

Learning. Working, Building software. That is all it takes to become a full stack developer. A full stack developer usually goes through years of learning and working on real projects.

Watch a video of how to become a full stack developer and how long it takes to become a full stack developer.

Summary

The full stack developer role is one of the most in-demand jobs in the software development field. A full stack developer is usually a senior developer who works on an entire software stack, including front-end UI, middleware business logic, data access, and even backend databases.

In this article, we learned what a full stack developer is, what full stack developers do, and what it takes to become a full stack developer.