There are a wide variety of benefits when it comes to adding a full stack developer to your development team. Learn about these advantages and how to hire one here. Last revised on December 31, 2024 You want your products to be focused on results and easy to use, regardless of whether your company uses technology to sell products or services. Up until recently, the software product developers only worked on one aspect of the product—the user experience on the front end—and never both. which was effective for some time. However, it became clear that developers required a wider range of skills to successfully manage development projects from beginning to end and bring them to completion with rapid technological advancement and the introduction of new tools and protocols. Increasing costs at a global level have made it necessary for businesses to reduce their operational budgets. Yet, at the same time, developing web applications are proving to be a necessity for businesses to stay competitive in an increasingly online world.
As they fill a need for generalists who can complete a project from beginning to end, take full ownership of it, and help offset the costs of hiring multiple developers, full stack developers are becoming increasingly in demand. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of web developer jobs in 2020 was 199,400, and this number is expected to grow by a whopping 13% (faster than the industry average) by 2030.
What you need to know about full-stack developers, their work, and how they can help your team are outlined in the following. Plus, we’ll cover the specific skills to look for when you’re ready to hire full stack developers for your business.
What Is a Full Stack Developer?
Let’s say you have a favorite application that you use very often. The front end is the only part of it that you can see and interact with. Then there’s another part you don’t see, which consists of all the activities that take place behind the scenes while you’re engaging with the app, called the back end. The database, a structured collection of data needed to run an application, is another important component of applications. A full stack developer is a type of developer, programmer, or engineer who typically designs an application from scratch, inclusive of the back-end, front-end, and database elements, ensuring a seamless, functionally efficient, and user-friendly experience.
A full stack developer functions much like a generalist who doesn’t need specialist expertise in all the technologies but still has enough subject matter knowledge to create a commercially viable product, commonly known as an MVP or Minimal Viable Product. An MVP has sufficient concrete and functional features to entice early adopters who are willing to test the product and provide feedback and suggestions for improvement. In this sense, a full stack developer has broad exposure to many different technologies that enable them to more quickly become familiar with the requirements and deliver despite not having in-depth expertise in any one vertical.
What Does a Full Stack Developer Do?
So, what exactly does a full-stack developer do? While the deliverables may vary from project to project, full stack developers typically focus on the following: Creating the Front End Front-end development, also known as client-side development, focuses on the development of everything that you see on the front side of your website or app. This includes the layout of the pages, the colors, the buttons, fonts, links, the positioning of the text, and so on.
Front-end development encompasses more than just site design. It’s about creating an attractive and engaging interface that your users or customers can connect and interact with. So if your full stack developer has specific skills in user experience design, that’s a plus, although it isn’t really necessary.
Your full-stack developer would then be able to ensure that the back end works properly without sacrificing the front end’s user-friendliness or features that increase engagement. Final Development The functionality of your website or app is referred to as back-end development, which is also known as server-side development. The back end is the place where all the data gets stored and arranged. Users don’t have direct access to this part of the application, but they interact with it through the user interface. As they navigate the website or application, users do not have access to the back end, unlike the front end. Browsers for programs A program that finds, collects, and displays the information you typically see on the World Wide Web is called a browser. Web pages, videos, and images are some common examples of browsers. Browsers are another core component of what full stack developers do to build a successful web application.
What Are the Benefits of Having a Full Stack Web Developer on Your Team?
Now that we’ve worked out what full stack developers are and what they do, let’s take a look at the more critical aspect of how they can benefit your team.
They Have Knowledge of Front-End Technologies in Addition to Back-End
Developers who work full stack are a one-stop resource. They can make sense of the application as a whole besides understanding the individual components that form a part of that whole. What this means is that your full stack developer can ensure all the moving parts work together harmoniously toward realizing the goal of the application.
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The generality of their skills is what gives them this flexibility. A specialist would be a better option if you’ve built an application that’s already successful and you need someone to refine or further develop some of the smaller functions. A full stack software developer, on the other hand, is a better option if you’re looking to build your app from the ground up and make it ready through a process of refinement and continuous feedback from users.
They Can Develop an Entire Application From Start to Finish
A single full stack developer is more than capable of developing your entire application from beginning to end due to their ability to cross-functionalize. As a result, you won’t have to rely on other experts to handle particular stages of the design process. You won’t also need to hire separate user experience designers to fix the look and navigation of your website/application.
During the process of development, they can serve as project managers. Having a full stack developer on board enables you to delegate ownership to the one individual. They are in charge of carrying out the project from beginning to end, resolving issues and troubleshooting, interacting with other members of the team and key stakeholders, providing progress reports, and overall overseeing and managing the project completely. At the end of the day, you only need to refer to one person for anything and everything related to the project.
If you decide to engage the full stack developer for the long term, you would then also continue to engage with the one point of contact, making it easier to follow up and stay on top of progress and maintenance.
They Are a Budget-Friendly Approach for Businesses
Businesses with limited resources may benefit most from hiring a full-stack developer. Having one person on the team who can manage everything is a lot more cost-effective than hiring multiple developers for the same app design, for example.
You won’t, therefore, need one developer to concentrate on the back end, another to optimize user interactions through an appealing interface, or a third to manage mobile-friendliness through responsive design. (This is, of course, an elementary example for illustrative purposes. Real-life projects can be a lot more nuanced and complex.)
