Ask HN: Should you be full stack dev or specialise further into a stack?

2 points by eanthy 6 years ago | 4 comments

I have always been back end dev with little front end experience but noticed a lot of jobs now are full stack and even pay better than back end. At the same time I always thought it's best to specialise in some tech than being a generalist. I am thinking in specialising into data engineering but would that harm my opportunities and salary as compared to full stack?

valand 6 years ago |

Be jack-of-all-trades and master-of-one.

Knowing the fundamentals in other stacks will improve how you design what you master.

Be careful not to mistake fundamentals as the "getting started" part of something.

eanthy 6 years ago | |

so do you recommend a career in full stack rather than lets say data engineering?

valand 6 years ago | | |

In case you misread the "master-of-one" as "master-of-none", it's master-of-ONE :D

No I don't recommend to do that or otherwise.

What I was saying is that

Knowing more about infrastructure will improve you in data engineering.

Knowing more about frontend will improve you in backend.

Knowing about software development will improve you at being a team player.

Etcetera, etcetera.

For career, you might want to balance between what you're interested in and what's needed right now.