Full Stack Development is one of the most lucrative fields of Computer Science and Engineering. And it takes a lot of time, maybe even years to be good at Full Stack Development. And let's say, you reached the point where you can confidently say (or at least feel) that you have become good at Full Stack Development.
But that's not the end at all. There's always room to move forward. For instance, with the coming of Web3, it is no surprise that a lot of developers are jumping into this new technology as this is the future of Web.
So let us get into the list of top 3 pathways after full stack.
1. Web3
As I have said, Web 3.0 is the future of the Internet. Now what is Web3? This is what Wikipedia has to say:
Web3 is an idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web based on blockchain technology, which incorporates concepts such as decentralization and token-based economics.
So basically, it is a new kind of Internet which gives focus to the decentralization of the web. You must have heard of the cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, ETH etc. which is heavily built upon the blockchain technology.
So.....if this is the future, what technologies and concepts should I learn to be a Web3 Developer?
One should really know the full stack in order to get to Web3 Development in addition to other things which I will mention now.
Here's the list:
- Blockchain Technology
- Smart Contract Management
- Solidity Programming
- NFTs
2. Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is still very relevant and is one of the most sought-after fields in the 21st century. When you got stats like these:
- The global AI market value is expected to reach $267 billion by 2027. (Fortune Business Global)
- The total contribution of AI to the global economy is expected to hit $15.7 trillion by 2030. (PwC Global)
- 85 million jobs will be eliminated, and 97 million new ones created thanks to AI by 2025. (World Economic Forum)
It is no surprise that hundreds if not thousands of developers worldwide are getting, or want to get into the field of Artificial Intelligence.
Now, AI is not all robots and self driving-cars. Every developer from every field can implement some element of AI in their projects. For example:
- The enemy AI mechanics that you often witness in almost all video games especially RPG's, is an example of how a game developer implements AI.
- A Web Developer (FE, BE, Full stack) can implement AI by introducing features like chat bots, personalised feeds, machine learning algorithms etc.
- AI can also be implemented in Web 3.0 too! However, this topic is very new and finding articles on implementing AI in Web 3.0 is pretty rare. But I have found this Medium article which dives really in-depth on how AI can be implemented in Web 3.
As you can notice, AI is implemented in many different ways and so there really isn't an all-in-one technology which you need to learn to become an AI developer. But since you have read the title, For a full stack developer, Python is mostly the preferred language to learn AI. However, it does vary from developer to developer.
3. Mobile App Development (Android/iOS)
Mobile Application Development is one of the most interesting fields out there and is one of the most demanding fields too. When you got most of the world using smartphones rather than PCs, it is no wonder many companies and startups want their websites to be presentable in mobile app format. And with the presence of PWA's (Progressive Web Apps), A full stack developer finds huge potential in this field.
When it comes to technologies, there are two types: Native technologies and Cross-platform technologies.
For native app development, There are two main technologies:
- Kotlin, based on Java, for Android development
- Swift, for iOS development
For cross-platform development, we got:
- React Native, based on JavaScript
- Flutter, based on Dart
- Xamarin, based on C#
There is also a third type of apps called hybrid apps, which combine the features of a native app and a web app to provide much more functionality to the user. Most of the popular web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript are used to make hybrid apps.
There is a cross-platform framework called Ionic which is based on JavaScript and uses three of the most popular front end frameworks (React, Vue and Angular) to make these hybrid apps.
Then there is something called Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs in short. I can't really explain clearly as to what a PWA is as it can be confused with the hybrid app that we saw earlier. so I took the exact definition from Mozilla's MDN Web Docs:
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are web apps that use service workers, manifests, and other web-platform features in combination with progressive enhancement to give users an experience on par with native apps.
PWAs provide a number of advantages to users — including being installable, progressively enhanced, responsively designed, re-engageable, linkable, discoverable, network independent, and secure.
And the good thing as a full stack developer is that, you don't need to learn much to make PWA's, all you need is HTML, CSS, JS, and any FE framework.
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Okay! That's pretty much it! I hope you find this article helpful.
And do follow me on LinkedIn :)!
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