The buzz around full-stack developer is quite justified since they are developers with multiple skills and expertise with several development languages, frameworks, and OS platforms. Obviously, as of now most enterprises when looking for developers always focused on specific expertise areas or skills instead of the so-called “Jack of all trades and master of none”. Certainly, expecting someone who mastered too many skills was always seen with a negative air. But defeating such popular notions, suddenly full-stack developers are enjoying unprecedented popularity and hence we are inquiring about the various factors leading to this demand.
Before we go into the intricacies of web and mobile app development for evaluating the role of full-stack developers, it is important to know who they are and what are their principal characteristics.
What Is a Full-Stack Developer?
Speaking in common language, a full stack developer is a programming professional who can handle coding tasks with both front-end and back-end languages, frameworks, and tools. A web and mobile app development involve building different layers responsible for completing different tasks ranging from the database, front user interface, and server-side tasks.
Obviously, all these facets will require different tools and no developer can demand to have mastery across all skills and languages for all these tasks related to mobile and web app development. But a full stack developer is likely to have mastery over representative languages and technologies for each of these areas.
Let us now mention the key characteristics of a full stack web developer.
● First of all, a full stack developer is versed with at least representative skills for building each crucial part of a website or application. Some of the key skills that most full-stack developer possesses include one or two Database technologies, HTML, Javascript, PHP, Angular, Python, CSS, etc.
● A full-stack developer is also versed with the challenges in cross-platform as well as native development for multiple platforms such as iOS and Android.
● A full-stack developer based on the customer demand and the character of the app decides on the requirements of technologies for the database, frontend, and backend.
What Are The Benefits Of Hiring a Full Stack Developer?
So, a full stack developer can really deliver up to the expectations of the customers with all the required skills. The question is if the same output can be ensured by hiring separate developers with a variety of skills, why hire a full stack developer? Well, obviously there are reasons that make full-stack development subject of such widespread demand.
Let us have a look at the key benefits of hiring a full stack developer.
● Unparalleled Expertise In One Professional
Most well known full-stack developers are experienced and have wide exposure to build numerous web apps with diverse skill demands and that makes them very sought after professionals in the world of mobile app and web development. If you have managed to get in touch and explain your project to a full stack developer, there are good chances that you will be given the best professional advice for your development project. From the kind of frontend and backend technology you need to the kind of ideal JavaScript frameworks for your project, on every account, you will get valuable advice.
● He Is Versatile And Adaptive
An experienced developer having proven a mastery over multiple technologies across the spectrum is likely to be very flexible and adaptive. He can easily switch between backend and frontend technology as per the demands of the project. As these programmers know the results of different coding input, they know when to switch from one end to the other and progress towards project completion.
● Focused On a Singular Project
Generally, full-stack developers accept a project with the full commitment knowing that the coding tasks require a lot of sustained efforts and continuous inputs. Naturally, they remain focused on their projects till the end and leave no room for diversion and distraction. This ensures not only faster development but also more qualitative input for the respective project.
● Helping You To Upgrade And Update
Having in-depth expertise across multiple technologies, frameworks, and tools, they also know about the latest updates of the respective tools and accordingly helps to select technologies for every project. This helps to keep your project updated and tuned to the latest technology demands.
● Finding Solutions To Issues Become Easier
When you build an app by employing a full stack developer, he has a far better grasp over the entire codebase and can actually get back to problematic areas for finding errors and issues easily. This is why, when an app is built by a single full stack developer, finding solutions to problems get easier.
● High-Performance Output At A Small Cost
Often small enterprises and startups struggle to finance app development that requires fully-fledged professional input from developers of multiple skills. Often hiring an app development company with a robust team of developers including several frontend and backend development experts becomes a really expensive affair. For such companies, rather hiring a full stack developer can be cost-saving while they do not need to compromise on the app performance and output. Instead of hiring reputed web development services, opting for a fully skilled developer having multiple skills is always a cost-competitive option.
How To Hire a Full Stack Developer?
As the market is aplomb with developers with single skill or expertise, it is often hard to find a full stack web developer having sufficient exposure and experience across multiple niche projects. Handling multiple stacks of technologies is still a rarity and sought-after aspect of any developer and to that end, one cannot easily find such professionals easily. You can easily reach out to an experienced JavaScript developer, but you cannot expect him to be proficient with PHP, NodeJS, Swift, and languages of other stacks.
There are obviously some areas on the web where you can get in touch with the most expert full-stack developers. Let us have a look at these avenues to hire full-stack developers for your next web and mobile app development project.
● Websites allowing access to the web and mobile programmers such as StackOverflow Developer Jobs, Upwork, StartupHire, Toptal freelance, etc.
● Job websites hosting full stack developer profiles for freelance such as Indeed.
● Social media job search platforms such as LinkedIn.
● Hiring full stack developers from reputed development companies having proven credentials and robust developer teams.
Decisive Factors For Hiring Full-Stack Developers
While getting in touch with and hiring full-stack web developers is always tougher than just taking onboard a JavaScript developer, there is an array of considerations pertaining to this.
Let us have a look at these considerations.
● Required Developer Skills
When you Hire Full Stack Developers for your next app development project, it is better to take into consideration several aspects starting from the education qualification, years of experience to exposure to niche projects.
● At the basic level, the developer should be a computer science graduate.
● Secondly, he must have relevant and prolonged experience in web development with different technology stacks.
● A diverse experience across multiple niche projects will be an added plus.
● The developer should have relevant experience across the technologies pertaining to the frontend, backend, and database stacks.
● 5 Key Skills To Consider
A full-stack developer must have mastery over some key skill sets that are crucial for successfully completing any development project. Let us explain briefly these 5 key skills you need to consider when hiring a full stack developer.
● Server Environment: The developer should be able to cope up with the respective server environment, its limitations, available network resources, and troubleshooting.
● Front-End: The full stack developer should be versed with the intricacies of the responsive web design and respective programming languages like CSS, HTML5, and some popular frontend JavaScript frameworks.
● Database: The developer should also be versed with the latest and most popular database technologies and he should be capable to generate queries for the database. He should also have a proper understanding of the syntaxes such as JSON and XML.
● User Experience: A full stack developer should also have expertise in UI/UX design which is crucial for engaging the mobile audience and business conversion.
● Business Logic: Finally, a full stack developer through the application flow and UI/UX creation should be able to incorporate the business logic to help the app to remain in sync with the business objective.
Conclusion
Finally, hiring a full stack freelance developer looks to be a value proposition considering the tremendous scope of making a better bargain in terms of rate. But to your surprise, the most experienced and professionally equipped freelance developers can actually charge much higher than a web development company when it comes to hiring.
On the other hand, any web developer claiming to have full-stack expertise may not at all be a reliable option until and unless you can evaluate such claims. This is why it is always advisable to opt for full-scale developers from credible technology companies with a robust and industry-recognized development team.
