Full Stack is Bullshit... Why great Full Stack developers don't exist anymore!

www.colorcode.io/
In this video I'm going to tell you why great Fullstack developers don't exist anymore and why Fullstack development just simply does not make sense anymore. I review the history of where Fullstack comes from as well as how we've ended up where we are. Enjoy!

[@joshman1019]

Being a full stack developer for yourself, in my opinion, is a different story. If you are building portfolio projects, building small projects for school or work, or for fun, it will teach you the art of researching, debugging, compiling or building, managing projects, repositories, and much more. If you can learn how to be a Jack-of-all-trades, then you can be called upon to become a specialist in anything. So there may be no full-stack developers working on large projects, but I guarantee that some of those people were full-stack developers in the past. We cannot forget that people have the ability to learn continually. Being a full-stack developer, by default, means that you can also excel in any particular branch of your chosen tech stack that you choose. There should never be a reason to discourage learning. It is our responsibility to collect as much knowledge as possible so that we can pass it along to others.

[@infinteuniverse]

Full stack doctor is called general practitioner. He's the one that refers you to the specialist.

[@Rolanditou]

sounds like the fullstack will advice you to hire frontends and backends hahah

[@pedroagma4417]

I was thinking of offering to be a full stack developper, as long the client includes some extra budget for front end and for back end specialists extra development. Really. Haha.

[@waynestewart2024]

This is very true. Most companies that are looking for full stack developers are just cheap and don't hire developers with specialize skill sets.

[@CondeAlberto]

4 years after this video was made, you bring up very good and valid points. Yet in some cases, for freelancing I am not saying one needs to be Fullstack, but many times one needs to know about databases as well as frontend. Nevertheless, without specialization, mastery of a subject is impossible, so point well made and taken. Excellent video as always, I hope KZbin suggests your videos more often to maaaany more people.

[@ColorCodeio]

Thanks Alberto! And agreed.

[@Zerael071]

This makes a lot of sense. I agree with the perspective. Only problem is, most jobs I’m seeing online are only hiring full stack for the entry level. All the front and back end jobs are coming up with 3-5 years experience.

[@ChuckLin]

I recently told a client who said "just hire more programmers" that programmers are not like bricklayers. You have to understand the project and have the specific skill. If deliverables can be met faster by hiring more, then why don't you just hire 1000 programmers and have each on write 10 lines of code? Do everything in one day.

[@ColorCodeio]

Remind me of an old saying "Nine women can't have a baby in one month. It takes one woman nine months to produce a baby." - You're absolutely right, it takes different skills to put together an effective team that can function properly and build specific products. It's not just the number of people thrown together.

[@the_allucinator]

The good ol "9 Women Can't Make a Baby in a Month" problem.

[@arod3295]

@@ColorCodeio So I have a very important question. PLEASE help. So there must be more to the layers of seniority I should say to the concept of front vs backend…there’s more job titled for a coder of all levels. What are those many titles called? Web developer Front end Back end Web designer Programmer (which idk if that’s just another word for web dev or if that’s a proper title) Junior developer (idk if that’s another word for entry front end) What other titles are there? Knowing this would help people find a proper path to get started instead of aiming high like “I want to be a software developer” like I did 3yrs ago. Now I’m aiming for front end (if that’s right) and design web logic to interact with smart contracts (I want to work in the blockchain industry and a lot of the work is programming websites to interact with the contracts) Thank you

[@asennikolaev8106]

This man is right. i switched to a new company as a full stack developer again - and i got fired in the 5th month for poor performance on the front-end part. even tho in the interview i said that my powers was mostly on the back-end. no more full stack shit for me... Now i am a happy back-end developer and earn even more.

[@ColorCodeio]

Glad to hear you found a better gig. Keep it up 💪🏼

[@N77b44]

I've been seeing some talk about fullstack as being useful in the initial stages of a career where you help with simple low-complexity low-risk tasks on the front-end and back-end. Hussein Nassar has a video about how, as an early career developer working a "fullstack" job can help you gain exposure to all the various specializations so you can discover what you're good at and what you like (perhaps akin to how all med students do extensive rotations usually in 3rd/4th year before picking a residency). So from an employee perspective I feel like fullstack work, not as an alternative to specialization, but as a precursor to specialization and solution to premature specialization, could be a good idea. Even beyond figuring out what you want to do I think having that familiarity and work experience on both sides could really help develop cross-team communication and ability to better manage projects and teams later in a career when you might have engineers of all sorts reporting to you. From the employer side, I agree it would be a huge red flag and risky idea to hire a fullstack team-lead to just... do all the things. There are undoubtedly a lot of companies that do exactly that to dodge costs and I imagine most of them either pray to be acquired before having to pay dues on their technical debt, or end up losing much more than they "saved" when they pay up to fix the mess. But that said, I do think there might be a place for junior to mid level full stack work where the tasks are well defined and low-risk but also time intensive. Something where the senior engineers have created a strong road map but filling in the steps requires a lot of relatively straight forward but time/labor intensive work. I might be overestimating how often this scenario emerges but I imagine someone with passing though incomplete knowledge of the company's front-end and back-end stacks could come in and make valuable contributions without messing everything up by injecting naive and inexperienced mistakes everywhere.

[@2DGirls4lyf]

This makes me feel a bit better because I am currently undertaking a course in full stack development.

[@conspirisi]

Much appreciated, get anxious about how much there is to learn. But it would be great if you had some suggestions for simplified backends for those of us who don't want to spend a lifetime glued to a screen.

[@ColorCodeio]

I use Firebase in any project where I need backend but don’t want to build everything from scratch.

[@conspirisi]

@@ColorCodeio thanks, what I fear most of I were to use Firebase, is to rack up a huge bill. I know you get notifications for usage, but as a beginner, who, by definition doesn't know what they're are doing, it's still scary regardless of how unlikely it might be. Perhaps one for a future tutorial.

[@jl_117]

Many people disagree with specialization, but being a generalist worked out poorly for me in the job search, especially when there is a recession. Also contributed to unnecessary stress because I tried to master everything, and I ended up learning far less than I could have.

[@SkylosSobaka]

"Are you good at all of these things?" ....well.... mostly yes.... But I've got 20+ years experience over which I've learned a truly ridiculous quantity of things... You're completely right though. Even if I *am* a mythical full stack developer, I don't work as one most of the time. And I can't just upskill somebody off a bootcamp into what I am. It takes a really long time... so, yes. Specialize. Please specialize. I don't want to have to be called in to clean up the mess you make from your inexperience. :)

[@ColorCodeio]

That’s awesome, thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience.

[@DevlogBill]

You have excellent points, but as a side note. A question which is similar to this question is. Once you picked a specialty do you choose your specialty as in passion over what's practical?. My example is I decided to NOT go full stack route because there is too much to learn!. My focus use to be React on the frontend and .NET on the backend. But my catch 22 is I am passionate over frontend with React. BUT all I hear is the market is over saturated with Web Developers. It feels almost impossible to find a web dev job now adays. Could you share your own personal opinion on how you would handle this? Passion OR Practical? Thanks!

[@ColorCodeio]

Good question, the answer is unfortunately a little more complicated than just AND OR. Pick something that you like ‘enough’ to not give up and continue doing until you’re good at it, once you’re good at it you will continue to get rewarded for it which makes you like it even more, and the cycle continues. The only way to get and maintain a job is to be good at it. It almost doesn’t matter what it is. There are lots of web dev jobs out there for those who can do them. Don’t give up. Continue to learn and apply for jobs every week.

[@DevlogBill]

@@ColorCodeio Thank-You!

[@wirleydaviondyllvaldez7130]

You made your point so clear, no args[ ] found.

[@ColorCodeio]

Awesome

[@arod3295]

So I have a very important question. PLEASE help. So there must be more to the layers of seniority I should say to the concept of front vs backend…there’s more job titled for a coder of all levels. What are those many titles called? Web developer Front end Back end Web designer Programmer (which idk if that’s just another word for web dev or if that’s a proper title) Junior developer (idk if that’s another word for entry front end) What other titles are there? Knowing this would help people find a proper path to get started instead of aiming high like “I want to be a software developer” like I did 3yrs ago. Now I’m aiming for front end (if that’s right) and design web logic to interact with smart contracts (I want to work in the blockchain industry and a lot of the work is programming websites to interact with the contracts) Thank you

[@mohdfarhannawaz]

I made up my mind today , to became a full stack developer but when i watched this video it opened my mind . Thanks man please make more videos like this . Like career guidance in tech . I think you are good at that . By the way thanks

[@ColorCodeio]

I'm glad this was helpful. Best of luck on your way to mastery!

[@mohdfarhannawaz]

@@ColorCodeio thanks

[@AmericanWithTheTruth]

To be fair at least as consultants and developers we have to constantly be able to explain concepts and analogies that clients can understand. For instance a lawyer or a doctor is a great way to explain why you need specialists. FYI… I just left a small tech company that tried to go full stack and they failed miserably and shut down because of this management style. Our manager had this wonderful idea that everyone could do a little bit of everything and we had a team of a dozen people trying to learn different languages and it literally destroyed the product model and wasted a ton of time and resources. A good JavaScript developer does not make a great Go programmer or a backend db guy. And none make a great UI UX tooling designer/developer.

[@ColorCodeio]

Thank you for sharing your experience and I’m sorry the startup didn’t work out. Unfortunately that’s a story I’ve heard too many times and despite all other reasons, the one you mentioned is one of the main causes of failure for these companies. Not to mention the burden and stress of having to learn an endless array (no pun) of frameworks and languages, which leaves little to no room for mastery or anything close to it. What you said about the verbalizing technical jargon to clients is certainly a valuable skill, and I for one have severely benefited from it, but that has come with time and experience, as well as deep interest in certain areas. Thanks again for checking out the video and for taking the time to write. Best of luck in your new gig.

[@swojnowski453]

People should know their algos and data structures, the rest.is specialization.

[@nachannachle2706]

You rock! Totally enjoyed this video and you truth-telling perspective on this overhyped "Tech" industry. :)

[@ColorCodeio]

Thank you. Made my day :)

[@saikoroKizu]

This really helped me alot

[@ColorCodeio]

Awesome

[@juanialt87]

it's so hard to explain this to the clients... they just think why do we need to hire multiple programmers if we just can hire one who know about everything and we can switch him between roles (specially when the company is a software factory). I know about every part of the software development and I have my custom stack to make frontend, backend and database... but as you said each one have they preference about an specific area, in my case frontend. Also when you develop software is good to have roles and focus your time and concentration in one thing at the time. If not you must setup all the environments, you will need to know about every spec of the project and be focused in each change of it... In my opinion I think that's not a good approach to build quality software.

[@ColorCodeio]

I agree with you. Thanks for your comment.

[@myqBR]

Thank you!

[@TheViolinRoom]

I fully agree with this...A GP cannot do heart surgery!

[@ColorCodeio]

👍

[@kirenpillay]

Great video, totally agree with you.

[@ColorCodeio]

Thank you :)

[@x33dness]

Im thinking "Full stack web developer". But of course you are right. There was a Time with basically no Client side code and after that a couple of years of custom Ajax and jQuery. The Situation now makes Frontend development complex and Not doable by a designer

[@ColorCodeio]

Agreed. And thanks for your comment.

[@benjaminbenson2817]

been saying this for a couple years now. even looked at a "senior" position with literally the kitchen sink worth of qualifications. I'm just like "so basically you're a business guy and i'm literally implementing your idea instead of a team of people." futhermore "and the business person shouldn't exist cuz he's just an idea maker at this point"

[@ColorCodeio]

Correct. That and many other issues :)

[@faithyintii8457]

Very true in deed.

[@emreaka3965]

AGREE!

[@avdhutjoshi676]

I look at job descriptions that want front end, back end, Qa, deployment, HTML/CSS like wtaf.

[@mikolots]

If a front-end developer makes 100k, a back-end makes 100k, and a Full Stack makes 100k, guess which one I'm choosing? The one that doesn't make me do two positions at the same price! And well said dude! Funny stuff with straight facts lol

[@VeganCheeseburger]

Sadly, three years after this video, the "fullstack" nonsense still persists. Why? Smaller companies don't have much money and want to hire one person to do 2-3 jobs. Sounds like a great deal for the company, but they get what they pay for.

[@ColorCodeio]

Agreed

[@sandeshsmagdum]

Hey Bro, you just relieved me from this full*hit 😜

[@ColorCodeio]

hah good stuff. Yeah there is a lot of overhype going on right now. Let's not get it confused.

[@viceroywhitestone7536]

Hey bro......you look like "Tony Stark" somebody noticed 🤔😀

[@ColorCodeio]

Hehe thank you. Best compliment :)

[@2DGirls4lyf]

Damn, seen this after I started a course in full stack development....

[@ColorCodeio]

It's ok. It's still good to get exposed to multiple things. Just make sure you eventually pick something you love and invest in it.

[@2DGirls4lyf]

@@ColorCodeio Yeah, someone brought up the point that doing it as a career isn't a good idea but learning it is a good start. There are so many options out there so I feel that this will help me decide what I want to specialise in.

[@jccabili2004]

He's a realist.

[@ColorCodeio]

It's just my perspective and I try to be honest about it. Thanks for your comment 👍

[@russelmaluenda492]

True!

[@ColorCodeio]

👍

[@Gbw99]

100% percent accurate, good job

[@ColorCodeio]

Thank you

[@jerome_ee6522]

Jack of all trades will always be a master of none. Although a basic understanding of other technology makes a better dev specialize in its role, I will always prefer to specialize than to generalize. It gives me the freedom to do what I like and also it gives me the opportunity to be a big fish in a small pond.

[@Rolanditou]

subscribed.

[@ColorCodeio]

Awesome!

[@Skylla54]

I love learning and yeah ... I am allowed to call myself a Fullstack XR Blockchain Developer. I am the only one of my kind, more specialisation is not possible. q.e.d. :'D

[@ivanbarta2821]

You may have forgotten that there are for example websites for small local companies or freelancers that do not need as many different technologies? Your opinion on fullstack isn't actually too fullstack :-) because it only applies to some cases...

[@LucaStasio]

You’re totally wrong!

[@mineeduka4488]

Its better to work alone than to be a "Full stack" for Cheap companies. For example seeling anything etc

[@existence.5806]

Why the fuck is that channel is not one of the top channels ?!

[@ColorCodeio]

One day ;)

[@hackersempirexyz]

Love from India 🇮🇳 ✌🏻✌🏻

[@darshaim]

Nilesh Kaushik india is poor country!

[@hackersempirexyz]

Darsh India is world's 6th largest economy

[@hackersempirexyz]

And Asia's richest man is from India

[@darshaim]

Nilesh Kaushik i agree with you but india me koi life style ve to nhi hai na, kitne graeeb log road pr sote hai unko to ghar mhi milte fir keya fiada largest economy ka ?? india burra nhi hai system buraa hai

[@hackersempirexyz]

Darsh bhai to ab hmare jaisa youth hi complaint krega system ye h vo h to kaise kaam chlega... Change to hona hi pdega na

[@LongNguyen-kn6or]

You are funny, make more videos

[@ColorCodeio]

Thanks. I'm working on it :) Complete JavaScript tutorials coming soon.

[@linkernetir]

very right talks. thank you. an if you know farsi lang: ta sobh hagh :D

[@Chris2phaBrown]

Is there a mirror off to your right? ... come on, tell the truth, haha

[@ColorCodeio]

Haha i will reveal one day

[@abhinandanjhansi5]

Ssoo.. u a full stack?

[@ColorCodeio]

hahaha no

[@pedroagma4417]

I am watching a serie of videos on "why NOT become full stack developer" and it is hilarious! Thank you!

[@ColorCodeio]

You're welcome

[@akritkukreti]

Hahahaha. I was trained as a full stack developer by my first company. Immediately I knew its not for me and took Frontend. Sad part is here in India everyone demands full stack enggs. These dumb 15 years experience developers who take the interview assume that everyone has the same knowledge they have. Anyways love from India.

[@FormerCityFinancier]

Great video. But not quite true. True full-stack devs do exist. Commonly among tech founders that bootstrap. They can get a product to market and selling on their own, before hyper specialised skills are hired in. But sadly, the only people who can afford to be true full-stack devs are those that are already rich. These devs are SUPER rare and unlikely to be an employee. If you're a dev in need of a paycheck then specialise. You literally cannot afford to be full-stack.

[@therightarm]

what is complete full stack according to you ?! willl you plz pin here , complete roadmap including ml n all !!

[@Mrasdf161]

Angry Comment!

[@ColorCodeio]

Carefully crafted response

[@ColorCodeio]

@Aniket singh respectful yet frustrated response

[@sinaan2181]

Comment 101

[@swojnowski453]

My take on full stack is it should work be secure and do not catch the eye for wrong reasons. In other words keep the head just above the water. If it is as above it is goid enough. After all those are just silly dressed scripts which usually last 3 years before binned.

[@farrukhahmedsid]

Bullshit Full Stack