What is a Full-Stack Web Developer?

A full-stack web developer is a development expert who does both front-end and back-end development of applications. They can make server and client software development simultaneously. A full-stack web developer must be aware of all the layers of the three-tier model.

Layers of the Three-Tier Model

The three-tier model consists of the following:

1. Presentation Layer

It consists of the front-end development where the user interfaces are being dealt with. For example, programming a web browser which includes skills like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Angular, jQuery, Vue, etc.

2. Business Logic Layer

It consists of the back-end development where the data validation is being dealt with. For example, programming a server that involves skills such as Python, Java, Ruby, ASP, Node, PHP, etc.

3. Database Layer

It consists of the data storage portion. For example, programming a database that involves tools like SQLite, SQL, MySQL and NoSQL databases like MongoDB, CouchDB, etc.

A full-stack web developer need not have deep knowledge of all these technologies. But the developer should be able to have a proper understanding of what is happening on both servers as well as client-side and should be able to understand the entire processes of application development. And the developer should have a keen interest in the technologies involved in the development.

Front-End Web Development

A full-stack web developer should have proper experience in front-end technologies.
Essential front-end technologies include JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5.
Knowledge of scripting language like JavaScript helps in the manipulation of the information in the browser for making it more effective and appealing.
Desirable front-end technologies include some of the third-party libraries such as React JS, Angular, LESS, jQuery, etc.
Front-end involves the user interface of websites. It includes the presentation of information on the websites in your personal computer’s browser or the browser of your mobile device.
The goal of a front-end web developer should be to provide users an interactive platform of information.
Creative front-end developers also use web designing applications like Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop for making the web pages more attractive with themed layouts and graphics.
A front-end web developer should also have additional skills such as User Interface Design and User Experience Design to collect and display in a better way.

Back-End Web Development

Back-end web development involves various processes like creating, updating, and recollecting data.
Back-end development technologies involve scripting languages such as Ruby, Python, PHP, etc.
These languages help a back-end developer for creating business logic and algorithms that further help in manipulating the data that was collected from front-end development.
Back-end developer code to collect data from front-end users and then store it in some storage facilities like a database.
Databases are basically of two types. They are Relational Databases which include SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc. and Non-Relational Databases which include NoSQL databases like MongoDB, CouchDB, etc.
Developer interacts with the database using Structured Query Language or commonly known as SQL which helps the developer to manage the database effectively.
Server Management is one of the main components of back-end development.
Server Management involves hosting databases, serving up websites, etc.
Currently, there are many Cloud Service Providers in the market like Amazon Web Service or AWS, Google Cloud Platform or GCP, Microsoft Azure, etc. which helps in Server Management more effectively and efficiently which lesser cost.
The scalability of a website can be determined by proper server management. And slow applications can also troubleshoot effectively.

Skills to Become a Full-Stack Web Developer

A developer requires pretty good experience in the industry to be a good full-stack web developer. Thorough knowledge and experience in both front-end, back-end technologies, and database management are very important to be a good full-stack web developer. A full-stack web developer should have the ability to readily accessing and communicating the details about the presentation of the website and effective data manipulation.

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The skills to become a full-stack web developer based on different categories are mentioned below:

1. Front-End Development Technologies

Front-end development technologies include CSS, HTML, Bootstrap, JavaScript, W3.CSS, ES5, JSON, HTML DOM, XML, Angular, jQuery, React, Express.js, Backbone.js, Ember.js, Redux, GraphQL, Storybook, Grunt, Meteor.js, Gulp, etc.

2. Back-End Development Technologies

Back-end development technologies include ASP, PHP, C++, Java, C#, Python, Node.js, Go, Ruby, REST, relational databases like SQL, MySQL, etc. non-relational databases like MongoDB, CouchDB, etc., Sass, Firebase.com, Less, PaaS which includes Heroku and Azure, Parse.com, Redis, Memcached, Varnish, etc. Having knowledge of the skills mentioned above alone cannot make you a good full-stack web developer. To become a good full-stack web developer, you need to constantly learn new technologies continuously and you must have proper experience in both front-end as well as back-end technologies.

Advantages of Full-Stack Web Developer

A full-stack web developer should have intensive knowledge in both front-end and back-end technologies which makes the developer switch between server and client easily according to the change in requirement.
They don’t compromise about the quality of the project.
They will be constantly updated with the latest technologies which help them in understanding all the aspects of the latest technologies.
They can also handle coding and UI designs.
They take the complete responsibility of the project assigned to them by the organization.
They are highly cost-effective as they have knowledge in both front-end and back-end technologies. It further helps in the reduction of project costs considerably.
They make on-time and quicker project deliveries and provides ideal and effective results.
They can easily maintain and update applications with more ease as they are updated with the latest technologies.
They can master the complete technologies in project development.
They can make quick prototypes.
All the team members can reach out to full-stack developers for any help.
Team communication time can be reduced considerably.

Conclusion

A full-stack web developer has more advantages over regular application developers due to their comprehensive and wide knowledge of various technologies. Due to this reason a full-stack developer is preferred by organizations over a normal application developer as they can handle both server-side as well as client-side development simultaneously.