The increasing demand and adoption of software & web technologies have resulted in the demand for full-stack developers in the market. They can work on platforms like desktop, mobile, web, AR/VR, and more. This can also increase the scope for software development in various fields. Therefore, more and more techies are now opting to be full-stack engineers. But the path of becoming a full-stack developer is not that easy. In this article, let’s see how one becomes a full-stack web programmer and what all he has to learn to become one.
What is a Full Stack Web Developer?
A full-stack developer is someone who has a variety of skills and has the ability to handle all the work of clients, servers, databases, and system engineers. Besides having knowledge about the technologies like CSS and HTML, full stack experts need to be aware of the program a browser like JQuery, JavaScript, Vue, or Angular and program a server like Python, PHP, ASP, or Node.
Why Companies Require Full-Stack Developers?
Initially, the IT industry only focussed on hiring specialized personnel like database engineers, front-end developers, back-end developers, and testing engineers. These professionals worked on specific aspects of the frameworks, tools, libraries, and software development life cycle. Because of different professionals working on different things, it was becoming difficult to keep track of the things and finish it on time by keeping the same perspective in mind. Therefore, the need for full-stack professionals increased.
A modern full-stack developer is well trained in different technologies and tools. He also understands the engineering craft and then follows agile development methods & processes of software development projects.
What are the Career Prospects of Full-Stack Engineer?
For the last few years, the majority of software development companies have shifted their focus on recruiting and training full-stack web developers instead of specialized individuals. This approach allows them to have flexibility in terms of resource planning, projects, and skills availability. The end-to-end project ownership from the beginning allows the full-stack engineers to have fast-tracked their careers to become excellent software engineers. And this is the reason behind every software development company hiring full-stack web developers. Because of this, in the year 2020, the full-stack developer was in the top five list of top emerging jobs.
After understanding the role of a full-stack developer and his career prospect, now let us go through the career path of becoming an excellent full-stack web engineer.
How can Full-Stack Developers Build an Excellent Career Path?
If you are interested in becoming a part of a full-stack development team but don’t know where to start from, here we will discuss it all and make it clear for you by going through each step of the process that goes behind making full stack web development as a career.
Full Stack Web Developer Career Path
1. Choose the Tech Stack That is Most Used By Full Stack Engineers
Ideally, when someone wants to take the path of becoming a full stack web programmer, they should start taking that thought seriously at the time of their college times. By doing so one can improve his chances of getting employed as a developer. For this one needs to have a basic knowledge about tech-stack that he can work with.
There are many different languages and frameworks available in the market for an aspiring full stack developer to choose from. The choice he makes can be as per the current trend or his interest in the particular set of technologies.
For instance, there are many front-end frameworks like React and Angular or say back-end languages like Node.js and Java, or databases like Mongo DB and MySQL.
You can choose from the MEAN/MERN stack that is completely based on JavaScript and helps to create web apps with Java + React or Angular. But the most important thing for a newbie is to stick to the stack and create proficiency & experience for the users.
2. Find a Good Trainer Who Can Guide You Build the Best Career Paths
While you are new to the world of full-stack development, always remember to take guidance from such a trainer who can make perfect the overall web app development process. You will find a lot of content on the internet about the programming languages, frameworks, tools, and libraries that a full stack web developer must be aware of. But it won’t give the total exposure as a good trainer can give you.
A good mentor can upskill your journey as a developer by guiding you in your code and the quality of the craft.
3. Be Proactive and Learn New Engineering Skills From Online Course
Being a part of an IT organization enables aspiring developers to learn new skills like communication and teamwork. Both these skills serve you well while collaborating with the client’s project. Besides, one can continuously improve the skill sets by learning more and more about the technologies that go behind software development. You can also opt for certification training courses. Here are some of the most essential skills that are a must-have in any aspiring or expert app developer.
a) Front-end Language
When we talk about having knowledge of front-end language, the list goes like CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. HTML/CSS are the coding languages that are known as the foundation of the entire business website. While JavaScript is an essential tool in the world of full-stack web development. It organically runs on the browser.
b) Back-end Language
Backend languages are used when the full-stack engineers want to create apps or understand the app’s logic and operations of the database. There are many back-end development technologies available in the market, but choosing the perfect one depends upon the type of project the developer is going to work on. Currently, the most popular back-end development language is Node.js followed by Express & Ruby.
c) Data Storage
After front-end and back-end come data storage. It is necessary to store the data of the application in a safer place for future use. For this, the developer must have knowledge about database concepts like SQL and NoSQL.
4. Create Mobile and Web Apps as a Part of College Project
After understanding and learning the tech stack, one starts creating web development applications, whether it is for college projects or personal use or just to create a professional portfolio for his career. Creating apps for a project gives a clear idea about the usage of technologies and the problems that come across while creating an application. This way the developers get ready and confident enough to work in the professional world and this can help them build great career paths. It can also help the developer to create a good impression in the job interview. So, creating the software while learning is training for the future.
5. Prepare for Full Stack Job Interviews
The last step in the career path of a full-stack developer is giving job interviews. The developers must be well prepared for the job interviews and should be ready to create a perfectly working logic of the application in a limited time to pass the interview.
Once the developer is selected for the job by a software development company, a whole new life in his career starts where he can improve himself every day and become a master in full-stack development.
Conclusion
As we saw in this blog, anyone can become a full stack web engineer by following a perfect career path from the beginning. It will definitely take time, but once the techie has the knowledge, nothing can stop him from getting a job as a full-stack web developer.
