It won't be an exaggeration to say that web development is becoming an ever-growing profession. As per the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, developers will witness a demand of 27 percent by 2024. It's no surprise that with the increasing number of online businesses the demand for developers is also increasing parallelly. Developers are becoming more aware of this trend and many aspiring developers are leaving no stone unturned to exploit this opportunity.
If you are one of those potential full-stack developers, who want to succeed in this domain, then this blog is for you. In this blog, you'll get a comprehensive outlook on the history of full-stack development, the roles that full-stack development entails, the skills you must possess as a full stack developer, and other important ins and outs of the domain.
The history of full-stack development
The term full-stack development didn't come into existence recently. It's been around since the dawn of software development, particularly web development. Many programmers in the early 1980s and 1990s programmed entire applications without the need of many qualified individuals, technologies, or programming languages. This was around the time when electronics and storage devices were still in their infancy.
Software development became increasingly complex with the advent of client-server computing and the arrival of revolutionary technologies in the 1990s and 2000s, with the server component, database, interface, and business logic.
Subsequent to the 2000s, as web development required varied expertise within tiered development architectures, the full-stack concept was coined. Furthermore, various server-side and client-side frameworks joined the development industry, necessitating the hiring of distinct frontend and backend developers.
Full-stack developers currently dominate and hold the top positions in the web development business. One of the most in-demand skills in the coming years will be full-stack development.
What does a full-stack developer really do?
A full-stack developer is a programmer who works on both the frontend and backend of a programme. They are capable of dealing with all aspects of product development, including databases, servers, system engineering, designing, and client communication.
Full-stack engineers are well-versed in all aspects of software development. Simply put, they take an idea and develop it into a full product on their own. They are fluent in a variety of languages, particularly web languages (HTML, CSS, and JavaScript), as well as software development methodologies, modern concepts, and the numerous tools required to create a complete web/mobile app.
Hiring a full stack developer benefits the firm by lowering project costs, allowing them to effortlessly move between front-end and back-end development, assisting team members, and working independently. They are regarded as a very valuable asset to the firm.
Importance of full-stack developers to the businesses
Hiring a full stack developer is advantageous for businesses for a number of reasons. To begin with, developing a web/mobile app necessitates the use of multiple languages, as we have entered an age where technology evolves on a daily basis. Full-stack developers are experts in a variety of technologies as well as knowledge of crucial areas of software development.
They are someone who has knowledge of a broad spectrum. They can take the place of an entire team, making them a cost-effective option for startups and small businesses. Furthermore, because of their versatility, skill, and extensive experience, large corporations favour full-stack roles. They provide assistance to everyone on the team while drastically reducing development time and costs.
Versatility is one of the main reasons why full-stack developers are in high demand. Flexibility to work with an array of frontend and backend frameworks is also very efficient. This saves time and money, which is especially beneficial to small and medium-sized organisations.
Database administration, API development, coding in an interconnected ecosystem, and an innovative approach to development are all part of today's development. Full-stack developers are one of the trendiest occupations amongst developers and students due to the growing need. Higher wages, flexibility, potential growth, and ongoing learning are just a few of the benefits of this position.
Full-stack developers can develop apps on their own, cutting down on the number of distinct jobs that need to be hired for development. This saves a lot of time and money, especially for small businesses and startups.
Some fundamental things you need to learn to become a full-stack developer
We have compiled a list of things that you need to master as a full stack developer. These things include:
HTML and CSS
You must develop your frontend software using HTML and CSS, regardless of how complicated your web project is or what frameworks and backend languages you use. As a result, this is the primary thing you should understand about web programming.
Some other important aspects that you should learn:
- HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language) (Semantic tags, attributes, doctype, etc)
- CSS Foundations Colors, typefaces, placement, box model, and so forth.
- To align things or create columns, use CSS Grid and Flexbox.
- Custom CSS Properties
- For frontend developers, transitions and transitions are essential.
Intuitive interface
Your software should be readable and useful on a variety of platforms, including smartphones, tablets, computers, iPads, and other devices with different screen sizes. As a result, learning how to create a dynamic design or layout is critical. Let's have a look at some crucial factors in this regard.
- Configuring the viewport
- Media queries
- Fluid widths
- rem units
- Mobile first
CSS Components That Can Be Reused
It's better to make your own compact, reusable CSS components and use them in your applications rather than relying on massive CSS frameworks like Bootstrap. If you create your own custom design, you don't need to import the entire library. You design a component that is just required for the specific UI.
Recently, a new trend called Saas has emerged, which aids in the effective creation of CSS code. You don't need to put as much energy into learning Saas if you already understand CSS. Saas is a CSS preprocessor that enhances the functionality and efficiency of regular CSS. Variables, nesting, and conditionals can be used to eliminate CSS repetition and increase efficiency.
User Interface Design
It would be favourable for frontend developers to improve their skills by studying some UI design concepts and practises. In the workplace, someone else may be handling this for you, but it's still a good idea to keep a check on certain basic UI design elements.
JavaScript
After you've mastered HTML and CSS, the next step is to learn JavaScript. It's critical for developers to understand the fundamentals of JavaScript. You'll be integrating JavaScript a lot with server-side languages like PHP, Python, or ASP.net, and knowing it will help you deal with React, Angular, NodeJS, Vue, and other JavaScript frameworks and libraries.
Other Important Tools
- Git and GitHub: Web development will necessitate the use of a few tools. These tools will assist you with debugging, increasing productivity, maintaining your code, cooperating with other developers, and a variety of other tasks. Let's have a peek at a few of these tools.
The most common tool that you should learn in 2021 is Git (Version Control) and GitHub. Git is extremely useful for interacting with other developers as well as organising your code. There are also some more possibilities, like GitLab, Bitbucket, and a few others.
Developer Tools in the Browser: You should know how to use the different tabs, like the element tab, console for JavaScript, network tab for request and response, application tab, and so on, whether you're using Chrome or Firefox.
IDEs or text editors: The ability to install extensions or plugins to most IDEs or text editors is quite useful for increasing productivity and developing web apps. For instance, VSCode Extensions in Visual Studio Code assists in the installation of React extensions such as live-server and live-saas compiler.
NPM and Yarn: If you're working with JavaScript frameworks or libraries like React, you'll use these package managers a lot, but for other languages (like Python or PHP), you'll use a different package manager.
JS Module Bundlers: If you want to install NPM packages on the frontend then you have to use JS module bundlers such as Webpack, Parcel, or Rollup. If you wish to design your own module or if you wish to transfer JavaScript files, you can’t do that just with the browser, so you need Webpack or Parcel to bundle it for you.
Fundamental Frontend Deployment
You'll need to know how to launch your front-end website online. And you should have figured out what tools or technologies you should master for frontend development.
There's no need to master AWS or DevOps just because it's flashy and popular if you're building small business apps, landing pages, or private websites. There are various paths to take. A few of them are listed here
- Managed Hosting Domain Registration
- Hosting on a permanent basis
- SSL Certificate
- FTP, SFTP
- SSH
- Email Hosting
Backend Development and State Management
You may conduct more sophisticated frontend development with frameworks. It has numerous benefits, like as reusable components, a more organised user interface, and page interaction. As a result, employing a framework saves a significant amount of time.
Select a frontend framework to improve your skills, and attempt to select one that is currently being used by the majority of enterprises. Learn basic state management as well. This is done in a variety of ways depending on the framework. Some common frameworks and state managers are:
React: React is the most popular web development library to learn, and it's quite simple in contrast to other frameworks and libraries. There are several opportunities for React developers as well. For state management, you can utilise Redux and the Context API with Hooks.
Vue: Vue is becoming more popular, and developers may want to understand it as well. In comparison to React and Angular, Vue is the simplest. VueX is a view-specific state manager.
Angular: Angular is a framework that is commonly used in major companies. It's got a great step-by-step learning curve. To work with Angular, you'll need to learn TypeScript. It supports ES2015 features and enables you to use alternative static typing. For this framework, NgRx and Services are appropriate to state managers to learn.
Svelte: Svelte is a compiler that has gained a lot of traction in the last two years. It has a fairly simple learning curve, however, some larger applications may be challenging to deal with. Finding a job is also more difficult than with the other framework. To handle the state, Svelte provides a built-in context API.
Alternatives: You can study TypeScript, which is a popular programming language in the industry. A JavaScript superset makes your code more reliable and less vulnerable to errors. For large projects, TypeScript is suitable.
Find out what server-side rendering is and how to use it. The frameworks that allow you to execute React, Vue, and Angular on the server are NextJS (React), NuxtJS (Vue), and Angular Universal (Angular). Efficient SEO, File System Routing, Automatic Code Splitting, Static Exporting, CSS in JS, and many other features are included in each of them.
Server-Side Language (Select One)
You should have a strong grasp on at least of the given server-side languages:
- Python
- Java
- Php
- Ruby
- NodeJS
- C#
- Kotlin
Make sure you understand the data structures and methods used by any server-side language you choose to learn. Data Structures and Algorithms will assist you in rendering data for the user as well as optimising your web application code. We strongly advise you to concentrate on dealing with Array and String (Most important). With both of these, you'll be doing a lot of labour.
Database (Select One)
Most online programmes require a data storage area. Certain technologies or languages work well with specific databases in some instances. For example, M represents MongoDB in the Mern stack and M stands for MySQL in the LAMP stack, but it's entirely up to you the type of database you want to use for your application.
- Relational Database
- NoSQL
- Cloud Database
- Lightweight & Cache
Testing
Many developers tend to overlook testing because they believe it is a distraction. But we encourage you to understand it to save time and make your job as a developer much easier.
- End-to-End Tests Unit Tests Integration Tests
- Testing frameworks for several languages are available, like Jest, Mocha, PyTest, and Robot
Content Management
If you're a freelancer, you should absolutely educate yourself about the content management system. A content management system (CMS) is used to add content to your website or application. Hence, the ability of clients to edit their own content is remarkable. You should be well-versed with traditional CMS or you can educate yourself on the headless CMS, which is recently gaining traction.
DevOps and Deployment
Hosting a full-stack programme, also known as a backend app, is more difficult than hosting a frontend app, especially when databases are involved. Make sure you know how to deploy using the CLI. DevOps is usually handled by a separate team in most firms. As a result, understanding DevOps is entirely optional. Hence to get accustomed to deployment, you should learn about, hosting platforms, web servers, containers, and continuous integration/delivery.
If you devote a substantial amount of time to learning the above concepts, your preparation for a full stack developer's job profile will surge greatly.
Bottom Line
Full-stack developers usually collaborate with their software development team at the start of a project to lay out the scope of the software project. Then they focus on creating the software system architecture, as well as finishing data structures and design patterns.
They will construct the real scalable web services, applications, and APIs when the project's planning and design are completed. They'll also develop the internal software solutions that will support them.
They also need to learn an array of skills to become proficient in full-stack development. The principal skill sets are given below and we hope that this blog assists you in your journey to becoming a full stack developer.