On full stack developers

I came across an excellent blog post on full stack developers – “The full stack developer is a myth“.  I do much agree on what is being said there.  Firstly, the stack itself.

Non-exhaustive list of a technical stack layers and components
Non-exhaustive list of a technical stack layers and components

Secondly, on the problem:

A full stack developer is a myth not because none exist, but because the term is meaningless. It’s no different from a coding ninja or rockstar, but at least everyone knows those terms don’t actually mean anything.

Even limiting the term to a more specific context like web stack or mobile stack, you’d still get quite a bit of technology for a single person.  And yes, it’s changing a lot and fast too!

Every year there are new components added to each layer and every couple of years there’s a new layer added to it. Is it really reasonable to put out job applications asking for a full stack developer? It’s not only unreasonable, it’s stupid. Particularly when you start looking for one person who’s an expert in security, web development, UX, and servers; and this isn’t at all an uncommon expectation.

More so, there is a geographical component to this as well.  If you are in a small country like Cyprus, with very few technical establishments, even further down simplifying the stack won’t help you much.  Finding a web developer with good knowledge of HTTP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL is already a challenge.   And that’s like three or four layers…

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