How much time does it take to become a Full Stack Developer?
All of us have this doubt about every learning journey we are about to take. Learning, especially something complex as web development is a major investment of energy, time and opportunity cost. So, it is natural to be curious about how long it will take to reach your goals. However, despite this being a common query, it is not easy to put a solid number on how long it will take you to become a full-stack developer. This article attempts to give you an idea about the full stack learning procedure and how much time it could take.
What is actually full stack?
We know that traditionally, the developers were categorized into two.
- Front-end Developers - Who handle the user interface and user experience architecture of an application.
- Back-end Developers - Who designs and handles the interactions between the server and the database.
Later, with the evolution in customer requirements and associated technologies, a new breed of developers was born. They are full stack developers. Unlike their predecessors, full stack developers are not specialists of a single end. They can handle both back-end and front-end operations. Obviously, to handle all this work, you should have proficiency in a couple of technologies as a full stack developer.
To be a Full Stack Developer
A full stack developer can be called as a jack of everything but master of none. You have to cover a relatively long list of skills to become one finally. In short, you should be able to:
- Carry out core programming
- Build the front-end and handle user interactions with the application
- Design the business logic and application's interactions with the database.
- Handle the data of your application.
It should also be noted that if you are trying to learn enough full stack development for a rudimentary application, you might succeed in one or two months. You can join a full stack developer course and readily learn it. However, it takes more work to become a professional full stack developer. The individual tools, frameworks, and libraries will keep changing all the time, but the fundamentals never change, and your learning should be concentrated towards those basics.
Mastering the Fundamentals
Mastering the fundamentals of full stack is a long process and takes time. Often you will find it difficult to focus on the process and jump ahead when you think they know something. It is quite natural and should be taken care of. In the very beginning, while you are exploring each skill, you find your confidence rising. But, that is only the first stage of the process. Soon after that, you will realize the difficulties associated with it your doubts will start to increase. In this period the progress will be very slow and hard to measure. In the next stage, you will really start to learn things and make progress in the process.
What I am implying here is that you can't actually predict with certainty how long it will take you to become a full stack developer. This gets harder if you want to become really good at it. A good full stack developer tutorial can take you really ahead in the process, but being a professional takes practical experience. So, a good suggestion is to worry less about the time and focus on the process. You will most probably end up exceeding your original goals in a shorter period.
