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Life of a Full-stack developer 😱 🀯 😱

Deepu K Sasidharan on January 19, 2020

Originally published at deepu.tech. Hello friends, the second edition of my book "Full Stack Development with JHipster", co-authored with Sendil K...
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Daniel Brady

I'm fairly new to software development as profession compared to many people, and it fascinates me how room-dividing the term "full stack" seems to be.

Am I the only one who's majority experience with development is similar to what is described as "full stack development" in this article; have always thought that's just what development is; and interpret terms like "frontend developer," "Java developer," and "infrastructure engineer" as mere literary devices used to highlight different aspects of the software development process and reduce the scope of conversation? πŸ€”

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Well this wasn't the scope of developers some time ago. Even now there are companies where you have frontend developers and backend developers.

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Daniel Brady

I guess I wouldn't want to be a specialist to that extreme πŸ€” it would feel to restrictive to me.

The more I think about it, though, the more it feels similar to painting. Some painters mix their own paints and then simply take canvases other people have made and make their master marks; others focus on making really good canvases and spend very little time using them. Some focus solely on making marks with paints and canvases others have made, and others make their marks with paints they've mixed on canvases they've made.

Whatever floats your boat, I guess! πŸ˜„ I'm not sure why there's animosity between the different types of painters, though.

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Yes absolutely

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Also, I don't think there is any animosity. Atleast not that I know of

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Daniel Brady

Yeah, I don't think 'animosity' is the right word.

I was thinking about the attitude I've seen where "X developers" look down on "Y developers" because Y developers don't understand the problems that X developers have to deal with, etc. But I think that's probably just a simple case of superiority complex or elitism, and I know that's not widespread, thankfully πŸ˜„

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Well, my intention here was never to look down upon anyone. It was just to convey what full stack development means. I have been full stack developer. Backend dev, frontend dev, PM, sales and so on. So I know the challenges in those and there are challenges in every role for that matter.

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Daniel Brady

Oh, I didn't mean to give the impression that I felt that attitude from you! πŸ™ I quite liked the way you presented this. Your use of the term "full stack" just reminded me of so many times I've seen it spark off a tiny flamewar (sparkwar? πŸ€” ) and of how I've never seemed to be on the same page as the folks in those discussions.

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Oh cool, sorry for misunderstanding.

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miniscruff

I think full stack as a role is more of a could you do it. Not so much, you by yourself have to fulfill all these duties on your own every day. You also specialize within that role. I am a full stack developer that specializes in backend and Ops. Some specialize in design, or user experience.

On a typical day I code in just one area and might review a PR in the other.

Additionally, once you understand the basics most tools vary only on syntax and method names that are one Google search or auto complete away.

People get too caught up in react vs angular and forget they are both MV* frameworks.

Object oriented design patterns and functional programming will get you way farther than react or spring boot tutorials, in my opinion.

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Well, there is no clear formula here. Write up is based on what I have experienced and what you do is absolutely valid as well

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Aaron Thompson

Thanks for sharing! I'm a junior fullstack JavaScript dev and I've been looking for a really in depth and clear guide to fullstack development for a while now and, if this book wasn't Java specific it might be just the thing I'm looking for! Would you say its worth a read even if you don't use Java? I guess the principles of fullstack development are the same regardless of the language? Thank you!

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Deepu K Sasidharan

There are many aspects in the book that is quite generic, but the framework used, JHipster, itself is Java-specific. Hence if you are looking for NodeJS specific content then this might not be the ideal choice. But if you just want to learn about the full stack life cycle of a project including microservices then it could be helpful.

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Eric Ahnell

I'm actually a long-time desktop full-stack Java developer - meaning I end up doing both the GUI work for the desktop app, and starting up any behind the scenes local / remote services it needs. Despite web development being by far the more common "full-stack" mode, this resonates well with me, as I find myself doing equivalents to these things anyway.

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Deepu K Sasidharan

I feel you brother. Doesn't matter if the front end is web or desktop, you are a full stack developer.

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Sergey Kislyakov

full stack

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Fyodor

Your list of developer's daily activities looks like a decent checklist for learning web technologies these days 😁

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Unfortunately yes, people do expect a lot from developers these days.

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Jochen

...and you are surely satisfying these expectations :-)

Thank you for your book and for moving development forward with JHipster!

It's not only a generator for getting jobs done, but also for learning how to do it right with incredible power from really skilled craftsmen. Big work! ("The amount of work for which a scale is no longer necessary or practical." - urbandictionary.com/define.php?ter...)

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Deepu K Sasidharan

Thank you for the kind words