How to Become a Full-Stack Developer

A full-stack developer is the best position if you are pursuing a computer science degree and looking to make your career in the same field. You must be wondering what this position is. Well, a full-stack developer is a developer who knows both front-end and back-end. The front end is the part of the website visible to the user, whereas the back end is the part of the website only visible to the developer, and they can implement changes to that. From the reports of Stack Overflow’s 2023 Developer Survey, it is concluded that 33.5% of the IT sector has full-stack web developers. Moreover, the developer is responsible for maintaining the database design to the user interface. One should also have the skills of front end and back end.

What is Full-Stack Development?

Full-stack development is the process of creating the front-end and back-end of any website or application. Furthermore, the front end contains user-facing components, and the back end contains the database and logic components. If any website requires changes, the back-end process will be involved, and the changes will be reflected on the website pages to the users. However, software development and full-stack development are two different things. In software development, you have to be an expert either in front-end or back-end. Whereas a full-stack web developer includes both disciplines.

Full-Stack Developer Skills

Now, that you have the knowledge of full-stack development, it’s time to gain the skills. Let’s check out the skill requirement:

1. Python

Python is one of the most popular and easy programming languages. Developers use Python frameworks, such as Django and Flask, for back-end development. Furthermore, Python is mainly responsible for algorithms and business logic.

2. JavaScript

JavaScript is a popular scripting language that helps developers with creating web pages and web designing. Moreover, Java frameworks, including Spring and Java Server Faces, are important for full-stack development. Overall, the language makes the website more interactive to the users.

3. HTML

HTML, or HyperText Markup Language, is a popular programming language. It is responsible for designing the text and images on the webpage. It also maintains the structure of the pages, such as headings, paragraphs, pop-ups, and more.

4. CSS

CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, is another famous language useful for simplifying the web page creation. With CSS, you can change the components, such as font, size, spacing, and others. Overall, it enhances and makes the content more decorative.

5. SQL

SQL has another name, Structured Query Language, which is a language useful for managing and manipulating data on relational database management systems. Furthermore, it can execute queries, retrieve data, insert, update, and delete records, and more.

6. Rust

Rust is a language useful for web development, mainly on the server side, which means back-end. It is useful for preventing programming errors. Moreover, it offers web solutions smartly and intuitively. Overall, it offers performance, safety, and control of the languages.

7. Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an important skill required to become a full-stack developer. You should have the ability to analyse, interpret, infer, and evaluate information to make a judgement. Furthermore, critical thinking has other components, such as communication, research, practice, problem-solving ability, and more.

How to Become a Full-Stack Developer?

To become a full-stack developer, you have to take one step at a time. Furthermore, your skills and learning ability play an important role. Let’s walk through the process.

1. Get a Degree

Full-stack development requires at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science or information technology. However, if you have not pursued a degree in CS or IT, another option is to learn through boot camps, online courses, and professional training. While getting a degree, you may give finishing to your skills, as well.

2. Enhance Coding Skills

Having coding skills is the most important step to becoming a full-stack web developer. Learn programming languages, such as Python, Java, CSS, Rust, HTML, CSS, SQL, and others. It helps in building your programming language skills. Furthermore, there are many courses available on the Internet with which you can refine your skills.

3. Get a Job

If you are taking a bachelor’s degree from a reputable college or university, there is a high chance that you will get a job on campus. However, you can also get an entry-level job by continuously applying to web development companies. If you have the coding skills, you will get selected soon.

4. Build Your Portfolio

The last step is building your portfolio. Once you get an entry-level job and hands-on experience in coding, you are ready to bag a good job in MNCs or other reputable companies. Furthermore, add all your achievements and successful projects to your portfolio.

5 Best Full-Stack Development Courses

Here are the best full-stack web development courses that are important for you, if you want to become a developer. Let’s check them out:

1. Full Stack Development with React & Node JS- Geeks For Geeks

In this course, you will learn basic knowledge about HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Furthermore, the course has live classes where you can ask your queries, too. The best part about the course is that it offers ReactJS Basic to Advanced for free as a complement. You will also learn about the introduction and basics of VCS, front-end technology, projects for refinement, NodeJS basics, and many more. Also, the duration of the project is over ten weeks and is available in a paid version.

2. The Complete 2024 Web Development Bootcamp- Udemy

It is the best overall full-stack web developer course where you will learn about HTML, CSS, Bootstrap 4, JavaScript 6, Unix Command Line, APIs, EJS, databases, SQL, MongoDB, Mongoose, and more. The course has pre-recorded videos of over 65 hours, with 135+ articles, and 8 coding exercises. Moreover, with this course, you can become a professional full-stack developer.

3. Full-Stack Web Development with React Specialization- Coursera

This course on Coursera offers many important skills that you can gain, such as Bootstrap CSS and Javascript components, web tools, React and its components, server-side development, and more. The course’s duration is about three months or 20 hours per week. You will also get a certificate along with knowledge, which will help in building your portfolio.

4. IBM Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate- Coursera

The IBM Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate is the best course for beginners. If you are new to the programming world, you will get everything in this course. Furthermore, you will learn about cloud computing, web development with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, GitHub, Cloud Native Applications, Cloud Apps with Nodejs and React, and more. The duration of the course is 14 months (3 hours a week) with a certificate.

5. The Advanced Web Developer Bootcamp- Udemy

Udemy offers The Advanced Web Developer Bootcamp, which is affordable. In this course, you will gain complete information about full-stack web development. The course provides CSS Animations, Advanced CSS, Building Projects, Async Foundations, AJAX, Testing with Jasmine, and more. Also, the course duration is 34 hours, so you can learn about the development in a week.

Bottom Line

Becoming a full-stack developer is the best choice if you are pursuing a degree in computer science. However, to become a full-stack web developer, you should have skills, such as Python, JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Rust, SQL, critical thinking, and more. Also, you have to be patient and get a degree with excellent coding skills, then get a job on or off campus. If you want to get online courses for development, get them from Udemy, Coursera, Geeks for Geeks, and more.