I don't think that "full stack" is much more ambiguous than "front" or "back".
Does anybody expect a "back end" developer to be a master of all things back end? Dos, Bash, distributed systems, SQL, C#, Java, C, Rust, Encryption, Networking, Cloud, REST, SOAP, performance, Graph databases, Timeseries databases, multi threaded concurrency, Hadoop,MEF,sharing memory, etc?
And what about solo developers? Stardew Valley (game) was written by one person, were they a front end or back end developer? Seems to me like they did a great job at both, so why refuse to call them by one of the best terms we have for them just because that term is flawed.
Can't we just agree that naming is hard, and let people call themselves whatever thing they think works the best for them?
That's so true and funny. If "front end" and "back end" actually meant anything specific then "full stack" wouldn't be ambiguous at all. It would just be front + back.
Versatile software engineer with a background in .NET consulting and CMS development. Working on regaining my embedded development skills to get more involved with IoT opportunities.
For me, I define full stack as being able to throw sysadmin and DevOps skills into the mix. I can built components in React but you should not ask me to style them, I can write and integrate with APIs all day long, but I've always been the one who volunteers / is volunteered to maintain the build pipelines and handle deployments and I've picked up a lot more than I ever wanted to learn about DBA stuff from an incompetent coworker. I define a full stack dev as someone who can contribute to any area of the project, maybe not the most effective or fast work, but still contribute nonetheless.
I don't think that "full stack" is much more ambiguous than "front" or "back".
Does anybody expect a "back end" developer to be a master of all things back end? Dos, Bash, distributed systems, SQL, C#, Java, C, Rust, Encryption, Networking, Cloud, REST, SOAP, performance, Graph databases, Timeseries databases, multi threaded concurrency, Hadoop,MEF,sharing memory, etc?
And what about solo developers? Stardew Valley (game) was written by one person, were they a front end or back end developer? Seems to me like they did a great job at both, so why refuse to call them by one of the best terms we have for them just because that term is flawed.
Can't we just agree that naming is hard, and let people call themselves whatever thing they think works the best for them?
That's so true and funny. If "front end" and "back end" actually meant anything specific then "full stack" wouldn't be ambiguous at all. It would just be front + back.
For me, I define full stack as being able to throw sysadmin and DevOps skills into the mix. I can built components in React but you should not ask me to style them, I can write and integrate with APIs all day long, but I've always been the one who volunteers / is volunteered to maintain the build pipelines and handle deployments and I've picked up a lot more than I ever wanted to learn about DBA stuff from an incompetent coworker. I define a full stack dev as someone who can contribute to any area of the project, maybe not the most effective or fast work, but still contribute nonetheless.
And I bet your team loves that you pitch in! :) That’s awesome. :)
Love it, I'd much rather work with somebody that says "How can I help?" than "Not much job!".