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Csokán Pál András
Csokán Pál András

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Full-Stack Developer Or Only One Framework?

Which one is more logical?

Hello Dev.to Community!

My name is András-Pál Csokán, a wannabe web developer. I have been taking two courses since March, but it occured to me many times, whether becoming a full-stack developer is the right choice to make, if someone wants to get into the field in the forseeable future.
I am asking your opinion, if it makes more sense to learn and be-job-ready-enough with only one or two specific frameworks(ex. Angular, Vue, React, Next), rather then sitting for like 2 years to gain enough experience as a full-stack developer?

Looking forward to your answers,

Cheers, András.

Top comments (10)

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tomekbuszewski profile image
Tomasz Buszewski

Hi!

First thing is, don't believe people claiming that knowing a framework (any framework) is a substitute for knowing language. It's not. If you know JavaScript (or TypeScript) well, making a jump between React and Vue will be only a couple of days of training. You will only have to adapt to "how React handles it" or "how Vue handles it", or "how X handles it".

That being said, for a junior role, I would get proficient with just one framework. Try and see, which fits you best, make some projects in it, create a GitHub and start applying :) But be sure that interviewers will check your JS knowledge prior to checking how well you know the framework.

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josejesusochoatorres profile image
José Jesús Ochoa Torres • Edited

Hey, in my personal opinion you should be focus on just one path, for now, I mean to be a really good full stack is complicated and it could take years.

Is a pattern common listen during interviews "hey I am a full-stack developer" but the majority are just junior developers that know a little of everything.

Every day dev paths are more complicated and are changing a lot, so my recommendation is to go ahead for now just with one path and do your best work to understand all about that path. With time you will start learning a little more about other paths.

About the JS frameworks, I recommend domain the base of all of these, and the base is Javascript; if you have really good skills with JS you can easily learn whatever framework you want.

  • If you domain JS you can learn more JS frameworks.

  • If you domain JS and have experience working with at least one framework you have more opportunities to get a job

But again in my personal opinion, I prefer to hire people with super high Javascript knowledge than a guy with just a little experience with javascript and "(supposed) domain of a lot of frameworks".

The hardest part of the start is knowing where to start and what next. I recommend fallow a roadmap for example:

roadmap.sh/

Sorry last comment; to choice a JS framework or library you have to consider a lot of things but the two at least:

  • What framework/library use the company where you are applying for?

If you are applying to Facebook you should start learning React, If you want to apply to Google your best option is to learn Angular or polymer. These are just examples.

  • What framework is most used right now; I mean if you learn the most popular or used framework you have more possibilities to fit in more job positions.

I am not sure if I explained my ideas properly but if you have more questions please let me know it, is a pleasure helping

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lysofdev profile image
Esteban Hernández

Your best bet is to use websites like LinkedIn and Indeed to see what the most requested technologies in your market are.

Some markets like LA and NYC have an abundance of options but smaller markets might be more focused around some specific domains which dictate the technologies being used.

In my experience, most companies have a demand for Web developers that work on both Front-end JS frameworks and Back-end microservices like Java Springboot and .NET

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brooksforsyth profile image
Brooks Forsyth

Dont worry about titles or what kind of developer you want to be. Just build stuff. Do you need a backend? Then build it. Try firebase then get pissed at it and build an express back end. Same with the front end. Built it in react then use vue then angular on the next projects. No one is looking to hire a jr dev who knows the ins and outs of a framework. They look for a jr dev who can learn fast. Prove that you can learn fast by building things.

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theonlybeardedbeast profile image
TheOnlyBeardedBeast

If you want to be a fullstack developer choose 2 languages 1 for be 1 for the frontend (or js/ts for both), my choices were C# and Typescript, I learned Vue, but back than when I looked for jobs a quickly had to adapt to React. With C# it is much easier, MVC web api or Graphql grpc... lot of tututorials. After that I was forced to do full-stack TS, I doesnt regret it, but I miss c#. Anyway, after you "speak the languages" choose a framework, choose by yourself, what you like... if you know one it is easier to adapt to another one. I started from Vue and it was easy to adapt React, same with my backend knowledge. I think one framework is enough, but be careful and look for the trends, stay informed. And there is much more a full-stack developer do.

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andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

I would say going down the route of Full-Stack is more future proof and beneficial in the long run. Learning one framework is simply not enough because when you are looking for work you will be going up against other developers who might know more than one. So you have to add more skills to make yourself stand out. So long as you have the core understanding of how the language works then you can learn any framework.

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sunisstillhigh profile image
Daniel Ivanov

Basic knowledge of backend stuff makes you a better programmer in general. Also, it can help you to get your first job. Write good frontend, and build a simple api for it by yourself. Angular + nest is good modern stack.

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wagslane profile image
Lane Wagner

Full stack doesn't mean knowing lots of frameworks. If you want to work on the front end, learn your favorite framework and only apply for jobs in that framework. If you want to learn backend then pick a language and get to it (no framework probably). Or do both.

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joachimzeelmaekers profile image
Joachim Zeelmaekers

I personally think it’s important to choose 1 frontend framework like React or Angular (currently the most used on the web) and choose a backend stack you like. This could be nodejs or Java Spring boot or something like that. Once you made these decisions it’s important to know a cloud platform too, like GCP or AWS. This only applies if you are interested in becoming a full-stack developer of course.

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jay_js profile image
Jayesh Kale

i think you should pick a one framework to get to know enough of how frontend framework works. they might have different methodology but they have same concepts agreed some of them are different. omce you good at one you can pick up others easily. for starters i suggest you to look at possible difference between them and job opportunity associated with each. and full stack developer's they aren't born directly after getting job on one framework you will eventually learn others and will earn the title.. react support jsx style, and angular support html while vue support both, next is derived from react so on so... think that might help you