this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
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Opinion about full-stack web app teams? (programming.dev)
submitted 1 year ago by tinker_james@programming.dev to c/experienced_devs@programming.dev
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What is your opinion about full-stack teams? I'm referring to teams where the desire is for every member to competently contribute at every point in the stack.

  • Do they work?
  • What has been your experience?
  • Does team size and/or experience level inform your opinion?
  • Do you notice an increase/decrease in quality?
  • Do you notice an increase/decrease in team and product cohesion?
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[โ€“] jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think there's a benefit to having at least some "specialized" full stack devs. I happen to be one. I do mostly backend, which is technically my job, but occasionally I will pick up a front end ticket or one that incorporates back and front end.

Being able to see and understand how all the pieces fit together can be really helpful. If your entire team is made up of specialized devs, they tend to solve problems only with the tools they know. In my limited experience this frequently materializes as too much business logic in the UI or improperly implemented database integrations.

But I think the real value that full stack devs bring to these situations is not so much in the code that they can write but in the insight they can offer during the planning phases by helping the BA or whoever's writing the tickets, clarify who's responsible for what and how something should be implemented if it may not be clear to the dev working ticket.