DEV Community

Cover image for Journey to fullstack engineering.

Journey to fullstack engineering.

Osita Chibuike on June 23, 2018

This article was originally posted in the legobox blog Hmm fullstack 💭 In the year 2011, I started coding semi-professionally, It's ...
Collapse
 
sam_ferree profile image
Sam Ferree

My advice: narrow your focus.

Do not try to become a full stack engineer by learning MySQL PostreSQL, MongoDB, RavenDB, php, Django, rails, ASP.NET, Spring, React, Vue, Angular, Aurelia, Bootsrap, Bulma, etc...

Pick ONE stack, and learn that front to back.

Collapse
 
lschultebraucks profile image
Lasse Schultebraucks

I agree! It is super hard to learn multiple things deeply at the same time. It is better first to concentrate on one to two technologies and to slowly increase your stack if you learned one technology deep enough (whatever deep enough means).

Collapse
 
albertclo profile image
Albert Clo

This is my approach as well. I learn just one or two technologies on each part of the stack.

I like doing it this way because it gives me a very good understanding of the overall software development process and software architecture.

It's easy to swap out one of the parts at a time for a different technology, if needed later.

Collapse
 
mozartted profile image
Osita Chibuike

I agree, it difficult and largely not advisable to undertake learnings in all technology stacks, I'm rather advocating on looking at development from a product-focused orientation, and making sure to work with the best tools for that job, in all sections, be it design, frontend, backend, or DevOps.

Collapse
 
shakeelosmani profile image
Shakeel Osmani • Edited

After working as a professional software engineer for 8 years and having formal education in Comp Sci. I came across people of various skill level and some really smart colleagues and some not so smart ones. One thing always stood out people who had worked on an Enterprise level software stack like Java / .net or C++ etc. tend to be easy to teach any newer fancier technology easily as they usually have strong software engineering foundations. Where as people who are trained in scripting languages, some front end frameworks, it's a hit or miss. If the person is really smart (which is lower number of people in general) he would pick anything up but majority will have harder time to stick to good software development principles.

Collapse
 
vmaggio profile image
Vincenzo Maggio

Minor correction: it's Clojure,not Conjure

Collapse
 
mozartted profile image
Osita Chibuike

thanks, corrections made

Collapse
 
albertclo profile image
Albert Clo

Also RabbitMQ, not RabbitMD.

Thread Thread
 
mozartted profile image
Osita Chibuike

Wow...thanks once again.

Collapse
 
trull_dev profile image
Kevin Trullemans

Simple question for me: Is jQuery worth it by now when diving into JavaScript?

Collapse
 
mozartted profile image
Osita Chibuike

Well most platforms existing today wildly used were created in time periods where JQuery was very prominent and regarded as a pioneering tool, with regards to maintaining such platforms and transitioning them (in case of that) the knowledge of JQuery is needed. But most businesses and software companies today, look for individuals using frontend component frameworks (React, Vue, Angular etc.), especially startups. But which every you settle with, there's always going to be a place for you in the industry. The knowledge is a plus though.

Collapse
 
trull_dev profile image
Kevin Trullemans

Thank you for your answer. I'm still at a beginner level and I'm getting a bit lost in the middle of all those technologies and languages. My teacher here, in Belgium, is only teaching jQuery. We barely had any vanilla JavaScript and I have to use a lot of free time focusing on the hot trends and what will make me attractive for eventual future opportunities.

Collapse
 
ns23 profile image
Nitesh Sawant

Really nice article, In my short career as software developer I have mostly worked with backend but now I slowly want to migrate to full stack.
This article will surely help me.

Collapse
 
kodekage profile image
Prosper Opara

Wow, this was enlightening..

I'd love to know. Where would you classify a Developer that knows a little in all the major track and are not hobbyist?

Collapse
 
toritsejufo profile image
Faith Odonghanro

Is that possible? You're not even a hobbyist then. Except you're wondering and checking which would be the best for you before diving in.