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Full Stack Programmer Doing Frontend
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this post was submitted on 07 Mar 2024
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I can't be the only person who thinks "full stack" translates to "master of nothing." One of the best career moves I ever made was shrug off the pressure to go full stack, and dedicate myself to backend only.
Full stack means we do it because nobody else will.
I feel seen.
I might get that sentence embroidered on a pillow.
You don't have to be a full stack dev for that to happen to you
No, but when it does happen, you'll probably turn into one.
When it happens? That happened to me a long time ago. I’m still a backend developer. I can create UIs and I can spin up and manage docker CI infrastructure but I sure as hell don’t want to. A properly run company team should have separate professionals for UX, front end, back end, sysadmin, etc. Just because I am capable of doing those things does not mean I should.
This is the crux of why so many companies, especially smaller and medium sized ones, are a hot mess. capable of << good at, but of course it's cheaper to just get johnny to do everything.
I think knowing about frontend is important for a senior or higher level engineer. I would expect someone at that level to be able to contribute where necessary, and know enough to make sane decisions and know when those decisions impact backend/frontend. But to be equally good at both isn't reasonable
A backend engineer that has adequately put in the time to operate at a senior level, will more than likely have worked closely enough with FE to check those boxes. They should be familiar with technical design and processes, which if done effectively, teach an engineer to ask those questions.
"I'm capable of not making a fool of myself with UI" does not equate to "I'm a full stack developer"
As someone who likes to dip their toes into everything, I feel a bit called out by "master of nothing".
My apologies. My intention wasn't a dig at engineers themselves, but rather the trend of employers seeking "full stack" engineers, and the implications of them shopping for a singular engineer willing to do the job of multiple engineers-- IE be taken advantage of, and the first to be let go, because of a lack of specialized domain knowledge, etc.
No worries. Wasn't really offended. ;)
Fuck that employer behavior, though.
The truth is that there is value in both a generalist and a specialist.
It just means he can't do it by himself.
Yours won't be perfect, but you can do the whole thing by yourself.
Why would I want to do it by myself, in a professional team setting?
In my case, it was to increase the number of available job opportunities rather than any genuine interest.
My company started with full stack devs only and we've transitioned to specialized back end and front end since we realized that 1 specialized BE Engineer and 1 specialized FE Engineer can work faster with better quality than having 2 Full Stack Engineers.
Thank goodness issues respect the FE/BE break out.