The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
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The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
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Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#2The main argument in this article seems to be to define the term "full-stack developer" as someone who is equally good at all the different bits of the stack (or someone who is master in all of it). Then the conclusion is made that people who call themselves full-stack developers are not really full-stack developers, as they don't fit the definition.
However, most people disagree with that definition, and in fact use a definition that fits their own skills.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#3What, in 2010, a full stack developer didn't need to understand UX? Did the provisioning layer somehow magically vanish in 2010?
Its a bunch of false comparisons.
The simple facts are this:
1) Full Stack Developer == Generalist [ Do lots of things; not 100% as fast or effectively as a specialist]
2) Specialty Developer == One area of profession-level competence [e.g. Front End Developers would need to go and start learning all the other areas/categories from essentially scratch since they haven't touched them at a profession level in years]
I'm not sure why people need to come up with a bunch of silly comparisons that are more complex than this and call generalists a "myth".
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#4What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant.
A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how".
And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#5What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant. A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how". And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
> does it
How? Especially if they've never learned the language/framework? This "Paul Bunyan" fairy tale of the "just do it!" hacker who can solve any problem no matter the odds just doesn't exist in real life.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#6What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant. A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how". And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
That's the best definition of for "full-stack" developer I've seen. There are two big things that set these people apart from their peers:
* Willingness to dive in and figure things out. * Having a wide enough knowledge base that they know where to and what to look for when they don't know something.
And you can learn the second ...
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#72014 is not any more difficult than 2010. If anything, it's considerably easier.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#8What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant. A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how". And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
> does it How? Especially if they've never learned the language/framework? This "Paul Bunyan" fairy tale of the "just do it!" hacker who can solve any problem no matter the odds just doesn't exist in real life.
Even if you've never seen the language/framework, you dive in and learn it in an efficient and effective way, both from the current codebase and other resources.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#9What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant. A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how". And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
What it comes down to is the distinction between "doing it" and doing it right.
Which is what the actual core of the article (the section on "Identifying mastery") was devoted to.
Re: The Myth of the Full-stack Developer
#10What does "full-stack" mean in 2014? What it's always meant. A full-stack developer is a developer who sees something that needs to get done and does it, even if they currently don't "know how". And these people do exist, and are every bit as valuable as you'd expect.
> does it How? Especially if they've never learned the language/framework? This "Paul Bunyan" fairy tale of the "just do it!" hacker who can solve any problem no matter the odds just doesn't exist in real life.
Hello. I am this person. I am a generalist, I am not the best in any one area, but I have a broad range of skills across many domains. If I don't know how to solve a new problem, perhaps in a new domain, I will leverage the broad knowledge and learning skills to find out how to solve the problem. I won't be as fast as a specialist and there will be a greater risk of failure, but there is a good chance I will get the job done. I am not arrogant, I don't think I'm a genius, I don't think I am infallible. It's just that I am a generalist who likes to know a little about a lot, it's the way my brain works.