The days when people used to specialize in one skill and work on it with blinders on are over. Today, it’s all about peripheral vision and the generalization of dependent skills. Full stack development uses the same idea in practice. A full-stack web developer would be driven toward both the artistic side of creating compelling front-end UI design and a logical framework for the back end.
Full stack professionals are proficient in the entire web development stack, making them increasingly valuable for organizations. According to Payscale, some full-stack developers earn salaries above ₹70 lakhs in India and $200,000 in the USA. The demand for full stack developers is growing at a constant pace of 30% every year, as per the Economic Forum. Want to scale yourself into a full stack developer? Keep reading this article on how to become a full stack developer
Table of Contents
Watch this YouTube video to learn How to Become a Full Stack Developer in easy steps:
What Is Full Stack Development?
Full-stack web development is the collection of both front-end and back-end functionalities in a website. Front-end web development is the art of making websites pretty and function well for those who come to visit them. The creation of the server side of a web application or website is what backend web development entails. Through full stack development, the back-end is integrated with the front-end, and a fully functional website with requests from the client and responses from the backend is made. Full-stack developers carry out full-stack development tasks.
Who Is a Full Stack Developer?
A full stack developer is a person who has mastery over handling both the front-end and back-end of a website with the help of different stack technologies. They hold the knowledge of operating all the layers, such as designing user interfaces, writing client-side codes, managing databases, and using server-side logic. They handle various aspects of a website and make development processes quite versatile and valuable as members of software development teams.
How to Become a Full Stack Developer
Before starting any career, a full-proof plan to pursue it is very important, so let’s try to understand where to start learning full-stack development.
Step 1: Pick a Dedicated Learning Program
Learning full-stack web development on your own can be a little challenging. It is suggested to pick a dedicated web development program that starts with HTML basics and JavaScript and also includes the backend, databases, and important frameworks. This will help you be on the right learning path and will allow you to track your progress.
Step 2: Master Full Stack Development Tools and Programming Languages
Mastering tools and programming languages in full stack development is a long process, and to become a full stack developer, you should be familiar with full stack technologies. A wide range of tools and programming languages are used to build different parts of the website in full stack development. The technologies are also divided based on the front end and back end. Let’s see what tools and programming languages each of these consists of.
Frontend Technologies
1. HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language)
As we all know, HTML is used to build the structure of a website. This structure will allow you to add visual and contextual data to your website. It is a fundamental technology in web development, and every developer should have proper knowledge of how HTML works.
2. React JS
React JS is a JavaScript library used to create single-page websites. It works on the concepts of virtual DOM and real DOM. It creates a copy of your application, and on any action, it doesn’t require reloading the whole website; it only loads the part that will be changed in the real DOM.
If you wish to know more features of react you can refere this blog.
3. Angular
Angular is a JavaScript framework that uses typescript as its primary language. It is also used to create a single-page web application. Angular works on a Model-View-Controller (MVC) design pattern, which makes it the best choice for industry-level development.
Backend Technologies
1. Node.js
Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that enables you to run your code outside the console into a server-side environment, or, as you can say, on your localhost or any web browser. It offers you an extensive range of functionality for developing server-side applications, including HTTP requests and file management systems.
2. Django
Django is a web development framework built with Python on the server side. It is a high-level server-side framework that is popular for its ability to do quick development based on templates. It offers strong security as well.
3. Spring Boot
Spring Boot is an open-source framework built on Java. It works on a Java virtual machine. Spring Boot is famous for its work with microservices; it makes it easier to build and work with microservices.
Step 3: Choose a Tech Stack for Full Stack Development
You have to figure out which web development tech stack you want to master. There are so many full stack development stacks available on the market, including MERN, MEAN, LAMP, and many more.
The MERN stack and MEAN stack are two popular and widely used tech stacks for developing web applications. Both stacks provide a full JavaScript-based solution, allowing developers to build scalable and efficient web applications.
MEAN Stack
MEAN stack stands for MongoDB, Express.js, Angular.js, and Node.js. These technologies are used for creating dynamic websites for large organizations using JavaScript for the entire stack. This stack effectively and flexibly handles unstructured data with its document-related approach. For example, it is more commonly used in single-page applications and dynamic web applications.
MERN Stack
MERN stands for MongoDB, Express.js, React.js, and Node.js. This stack is effective for SPAs, i.e., single-page applications, and dynamically responsive websites. MERN stack is famous due to the React library and its community support. For example, it is generally used for building enterprise-scale applications or large-scale projects.
If you are confused, you can always start with basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, as they are the building blocks of any website. After learning the basics of these three languages, you can move on to learn any tech stack related to web development.
Step 4: Work on Front-End Skills
Once you complete the basics of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you can start creating small front-end projects like todo lists and landing pages. Gradually, you can move on to learning jQuery and advanced JavaScript concepts.
Step 5: Choose Your Back-End Stack
The next step in learning how to become a full stack developer is to select the backend stack. This includes choosing the programming language or framework for backend development as well as the right database for your application.
For example, in the front end, if you have selected React or Angular, you can go with Node.js as your backend programming framework, and if you have Spring Boot as the front end, you can go with Java for backend development.
Step 6: Learn Database
Along with the backend, you will also need database skills. You can start by learning MySQL for structured data and MongoDB for unstructured data. You can always choose to take some short courses on databases, as they will help you master database skills.
Step 7: Learn Version Control
Building a web application from scratch is not a one-day task, and as a developer, it’s your responsibility to maintain your code. To do so, you will need good command-line version control tools like Git. Whenever you update your application, you can push that code over to your GitHub repository, and it will automatically get updated to your deployed version.
Step 8: Create a Portfolio
Effectively showcasing your work is important to getting a job or any freelancing project. Start creating your web development, which has all the work experience and all the technical skills and tools mentioned. Add 5 or 6 of the best full-stack projects you have created. You can also choose to use Three.js and Frammer Motion to build your portfolio so that it is attractive.
Now, let us go through the key skills, roles, and responsibilities of full stack developers.
Key Skills Required for a Full Stack Developer
- Must be good at using JavaScript, HTML, and CSS with the best practices
- Should know the best ways to use React with Redux
- Must be able to do work step by step and should be good with Application Programming Interface (APIs)
- Must be familiar with the latest tools introduced in the field of development
- Great at solving tricky problems and paying close attention to the little things
Roles and Responsibilities of a Full Stack Developer
- Work with others, like designers and people who write the behind-the-scenes code, to make really good software
- Build the code based on the design provided
- Deploy and host the developed website
- Help and teach new developers how to do things better
- Learn about new tech stuff and use it to make our software better
- Check each other’s code to make sure it’s good and follows the rules
- Troubleshoot and debug the developed website
- Solve any problems so the websites run without any trouble
Job Openings for Full Stack Developers
Full Stack Developer Jobs Available in India
According to LinkedIn, there are more than 10,000 jobs available right now in India. This is data from only LinkedIn job boards. If you consider other job boards like Naukri, Indeed, and Anglelist, this number will be much higher. The top companies looking for full stack developers include Amazon, Accenture, IBM, and Deloitte.
Full Stack Developer Jobs Available in the US
According to LinkedIn, there are 17,000+ jobs available in the United States for full stack developers, and again, these numbers are only from LinkedIn. The overall number is much higher than this.
Now you know everything related to full stack and full stack development, but don’t you want to know how much a full stack developer earns? Let’s have a look at the salaries of the full stack developers in the upcoming sections.
Salary of a Full Stack Developer
| Country | Average Salary (Per Year) | Additional Cash Compensation (Per Year) |
| India | ₹6,60,000 | ₹60,000 |
| United States | $97,937 | $6,488 |
Conclusion
We hope by now you have all the information you need about how to become a full stack developer and what skills, technologies, and tools are required to become a full stack developer. Getting involved in full stack development enables you to work with cutting-edge firms and explore innovative solutions at the forefront of technology.
FAQs
How long does it take to become a full stack developer?
Generally, if you already have some knowledge of web development, like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it will take you around 3–6 months to learn the whole full stack development stack. If you are someone who doesn’t have any prior knowledge about web development, it can take around 7–12 months to learn the full stack development technologies.
Can I learn full stack development on my own?
Learning full stack development doesn’t include one thing; it has various tools and technologies to master, so it can be a little challenging to learn all the technologies and tools on your own. So, it is recommended to enroll in some full stack development courses.
Can you become a full stack developer without a degree?
If you have enough skills and knowledge about full stack development, you can become a full stack developer without even having a college degree. However, a college degree will be an added advantage.
Do full-stack developers need to know how to code?
Coding is one of the essential skills to learn in full stack development. The journey of full stack development starts with learning frontend programming languages and backend programming, which also includes knowledge of data structures and algorithms that require coding.