Must-have Skills of Full-stack Developers

by Rob Stephen getaprogrammer

Experts in full-stack development have knowledge of both front-end and back-end web and app development tools and technologies. Here are the must-have skills of full-stack developers.

When it comes to web or application development, investing in full-stack development can be the most cost-effective solution. Having experience and knowledge in both front-end and back-end development of websites and applications, full-stack developers take care of all. Full-stack developers are the skilled programmers having knowledge of user interfaces, web or app design principles, database structures, different programming languages, tools, and advanced technologies. Because of this complete set of development skills, choosing these professionals is always a smart decision.

Now, let’s have a clear idea of who are full-stack developers first before moving on to the skills they must possess.

To understand who a full-stack developer is and what is the role of the professional you need to know that web or app development has two components, the front-end and back-end. The back-end is also referred to as the server-side and it comprises all the logic and implementation of functionalities that power a website or application like database management, servers, API integrations, etc., and the front-end is also referred as the client-side that comprises all the visual or components that need to be displayed on the UI like graphical elements, design technologies, etc. And full-stack developers have mastery in all these.

These professionals can manage to do all the front-end and back-end tasks. They possess a wide range of skills and abilities that enable them to create and manage websites and applications using different libraries, technologies, programming languages, strategies, and frameworks. Their skillset helps them to seamlessly switch between back-end and front-end development tasks which makes these professionals highly valued in the software development world.

Here’s the list of skills full-stack developers must possess.

The programming languages, tools, and technologies required for back-end development are different from those required for front-end development. That is the server-side development tools and technologies are different from the client-side ones. Because of this reason, full-stack programmers need to possess knowledge about all.

Front-end development skills:

HTML:

HTML or Hypertext Markup Language is used for determining the structure of the webpages. HTML can be also considered as the blueprint of how the components of a web page including images, widgets, videos, content, etc., should be organised and displayed. Knowledge of HTML is important as without this it is not possible to create and design the UI of a website or application.

CSS:

CSS or Cascading Style Sheet is used for determining the look and feel of the website or application. CSS determines the aesthetic elements like the colours to be used, font styles, as well as the other style characteristics. CSS also helps to give a consistent presentation across various devices, thereby, ensuring a uniform user experience irrespective of the device the user is using.

JQuery:

It is a Javascript library, which simplifies tasks like document traversing, HTML event handling, animation creation, etc. Having knowledge of the jQuery libraries can save a lot of time for the developers by saving them from writing the codes for including these features.

Back-end development skills:

NodeJs:

NodeJs is the platform where the programmers can run their JavaScript codes prior to deploying the codes to the web browser. NodeJs is widely used by full-stack developers for back-end development.

SQL:

SQL is the programming language that is used to organise and extract data in the relational data management system. Also, in order to allow the back-end elements like the database and the server to communicate with each other, developers use SQL queries for creating, storing, retrieving, and modifying server data.

PHP:

PHP is a popular server-side scripting language that is open-source in nature and offers plenty of benefits. PHP supports a wide range of frameworks and development tools that makes back-end development faster and more efficient. The full-stack developers need to possess PHP development skills and should have knowledge of the related frameworks and tools.

Other required skills of a full-stack developer:

Web architecture:

Full-stack developers must have an understanding of the web architecture in order to develop server-side structures. The web architecture involves the data structure, code structure, file categorisation, the location of the computational tasks, etc.

Git and GitHub:

Git is the software used to track changes in any file or set of files whereas GitHub is the web-based interface, which allows more than one developer to make different changes in a single file at the same time. It offers cloud storage for the source codes, enables collaboration along with version control, and streamlines the iteration process.

REST and HTTP:

HTTP is the communication protocol powering web interactions like streaming videos, loading webpages, and other types of communications between web servers and web browsers.

REST serves as the translator between the back-end and front-end.

Both REST and HTML are required in full-stack development.

Database storage:

Efficient and organised database storage enables websites and applications to effectively and easily fetch data whenever needed. And full-stack developers must have strong knowledge of database storage, relational and non-relational databases, storage solutions, NoSQL databases, different databases like MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, etc., and the other database related aspects.

Design fundamentals:

Full-stack programmers need to take care of and construct both server-side and client-side architectures and interfaces. And because of this, full-stack developers should have knowledge of the design fundamentals.

NPM:

NPM is the software that is used for managing dependencies for the JavaScript packages. The NPM is specifically designed to use with NodeJs. Developers use it for the development, publishing, and installation of the node programs.

Other than these technical skills, these developers must possess some soft skills like attention to detail, effective communication skills, work management skills, maintaining code standards and prioritisation of tasks.

Rob Stephen is a dedicated and highly experienced full-stack developer associated with an award-winning full-stack development company in Australia, GetAProgrammer. The author has written this article to let you know the must-have skills of a good full-stack developer.