| It's not remotely a "trend" though. Full-stack is how it has always been for many web developers since 1994. I almost have never been anything other than a full-stack developer, one way or another. I did work at a dot com (well a dot co dot uk) back in the 90s where I had varying jobs, and arguably the most successful two I was the front end guy for (but these were successful because of who they were for, not the development; the back-end was a nightmare in one of these). We had to invent things. Apart from that, I've always just done everything. And I'm good at it all. Slightly conservative or risk-averse after almost three decades, maybe. But still good, and still up to date and learning. And I'm burned out and want to quit, or get away from the Web, or at least teach (which I've also done). I don't think newer web developers necessarily understand the luxury of specialising in one part or another. A lot of us didn't get offered the choice. (But then again, I'm shocked by how many newer developers lack basic competence that I think only comes from deeper understanding of the full stack. There are non-idempotent GET requests on this very website where I am typing.) ETA: I think in a lot of small shops, developers still end up getting dragged across this divide through circumstance. The web does not really have a front-end/back-end divide, no matter how much recruitment managers, engineering team leads and tech bloggers would like it to have. |