The Myth of the Full Stack Developer • Hacker News Board

Re: The Myth of the Full Stack Developer

#101

Post by hajile » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 11:27 PM UTC

timdavila wrote: post #95

As far as I understand it, the argument against self-proclaimed "full stack" developers basically boils down to - there's too much to know. I refute this. I like to put my job in perspective. Astronauts must be skilled pilots, engineers, and have at least some medical training. Doctors have to be able to diagnose hundreds of different ailments. Lawyers memorize books of laws. There's no maximum storage capacity for y…

There have been less than 600 people to go into space. I'd agree readily that there are at least that many full stack developers. Talking about the extreme ends of the skill distribution isn't productive.

Re: The Myth of the Full Stack Developer

#102

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Aug 13, 2017, 11:27 PM UTC

timdavila wrote: post #95

As far as I understand it, the argument against self-proclaimed "full stack" developers basically boils down to - there's too much to know. I refute this. I like to put my job in perspective. Astronauts must be skilled pilots, engineers, and have at least some medical training. Doctors have to be able to diagnose hundreds of different ailments. Lawyers memorize books of laws. There's no maximum storage capacity for y…

[deleted]

Re: The Myth of the Full Stack Developer

#103

Post by lr4444lr » Wed, Aug 16, 2017, 9:31 PM UTC

kthejoker2 wrote: post #99

lr4444lr wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe he meant, for example, that a 1st year cardiologist is probably going to be a better cardiologist than a 20 year nephrologist. The OP seems to be insinuating in his medical analogy that only time - not specialty - is the most important metric. Take that 20 year nephrologist: if he had spent 10 of those years in cardiology, I don't think most other nephrologists would say that makes him a better doctor just beca…

Lesser doctor or lesser nephrologist? Semantics are very important in these sorts of discussions.

Lesser doctor. That was my point: it is my understanding that covering a wider but shallower expertise in medicine would not elevate a doctor among his peers as much as a doctor who plumbs the depth of one specialty (barring one of the well-recognized interdisciplinary field like sleep medicine).

Re: The Myth of the Full Stack Developer

#104

Post by real-hacker » Sat, Aug 19, 2017, 7:14 AM UTC

This is "the man" talking. The society/companies need specialized workers to be efficient and effective, and a specialist is more 'stable' than a full-stack engineer, especially when the skills he is good at is not needed elsewhere.

From an engineer's perspective, going full-stack gives us more options. And to be honest, for most of the tasks, we don't need to be an expert to accomplish the job.