[_lex]

>"most “full stack” developers have not truly mastered front end and back end"

We need to do something about the default of developer bashing prevalent in our culture. There's no true Scotsman, nobody is 100% perfectly attuned to the latest developments on any surface.

Instead engineers develop along competencies that are required in their work. If you need to deep dive into a backend problem, you'll get better at that problem space. Same with frontend.

Yes there are separate stacks beneath the problem being solved, and yes there's discovery and learning as people spend years in a certain focus - but does focusing only on 1 thing mean that you've attained competency in that 1 thing? Does focusing on both the frontend and backend mean that you can't have attained competency in both?

I personally work with fullstack engineers that are better at frontend than some frontend engineers, AND better at backend than some backend engineers - so the answer here is clear to me.

[_lex]

One thing I should mention is that on teams where you deliver a lot of product quickly, it can be much easier to develop and maintain both skillsets.

In the end it's not about time, but what you've seen and done.

[vkjv]

Came to say the same. I've seen good developers that are working on front-end, back-end, and full-stack.

The key is that they are a good developer. Where they focus usually has more to do with the organizational structure and its values than the engineer. If they are the best in their area, if you move them, they quickly become the best in that area.

Besides when back-end means you work on a web API and frontend means you work on a web UI, is there really that much of a difference? It's not like we are talking about completely different technologies.

[Vendan]

Generally web ui and web api are completely different techs. Even when you are talking node.js on your backend(which is only 1 out of many languages used), you still are likely dealing with databases and all kinds of things that aren't relevant in 99% of frontend cases. And when I'm doing backend dev work, which is most of what I do, I never deal with DOM and such. There are HUGE differences.

[ptr]

> Besides when back-end means you work on a web API and frontend means you work on a web UI, is there really that much of a difference?

It depends on what's behind the web API, doesn't it? Maybe there's a stock exchange back there.

[noxToken]

I can't access TFA at the moment, so I could be off base. Perhaps that quote is a jab at people who claim competency where none exists? I personally know front-end devs who will claim back-end mastery cause they set up a Digital Ocean droplet. I mean it does take a bit of command-line know how that a non-tech person will probably struggle with, but that's far and away from being full stack.

There's a line between falsely claiming a title and the no true Scotsman fallacy. You've accurately highlighted real world application of the term full stack, but the term absolutely does mean different things to different people.

[WalterSear]

There's no line. It's a huge grey area, like any other skillset. The person you described did work on the front and back-end.

This is an argument about semantics.

[rplst8]

If this is the case, then no one should lend any more credence to the term "full stack developer" than to the phrase "I like to work on all sorts of software" - because it's meaningless.

What I do know is that there are many dishonest types that will say they are "full stack" when they really aren't. Then there are others that will not lie on a resume and say they are, when they in fact aren't.

The reality is that any dev can learn to do both - but hiring managers want it all, now, for free, and with a smile.

All that said - the more disciplines and domains you use day to day, the worse off you are going to be IMO. Sure it's good be a polyglot, but specializing helps to hone and sharpen skills.