The Journey Of A Full-Stack Web Developer
Let's begin by explaining what a full-stack web developer is. A full-stack web developer is either a software engineer or a developer who can build both the front and back end of a website. Responsible for both designing and developing websites, a full-stack web developer ensures that the user interactions are intuitive and engaging.
In a nutshell, I can develop the functionality that can handle backend functionality and design the front end to make the website look good. I've worked on both sides of the coin since the early 2000s. The initial technologies I began with were PHP, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. After working for several years with these, I started digging into libraries and frameworks. This included jQuery and CodeIgniter. These allowed me to create websites that felt alive and backend code that was much more optimized.
The deeper that I got into CodeIgniter, the more my interest peaked in design patterns. This allowed me to be more efficient as code was more organized and nothing was replicated as the principle of DRY was easy to stick to. To create robust applications, I started utilizing APIs such as PayPal, Social Media, Stripe, AWS, and many others to provide advanced functionality to the project.
As I climbed the mountain of available technologies for web development, I came across the PHP framework Laravel. Rebuilding a project from scratch, I was quickly swayed to make it my PHP framework of choice. On top of the Laravel framework being an addition to the available technologies I could utilize, I also added VueJS. It allowed me to take advantage of truly making a webpage come alive by being able to update the DOM instantly and communicate with the server via API with blazing speed.
Being a full-stack web developer is more than having a vast knowledge of technologies you can utilize. You must be able to verify your work before you send it to a client. One must also comment on code when necessary so that future developers (including yourself) know what is going on with the functionality. Another key thing is to always be learning. That can include reading blogs online, the documentation for technology, or even learning from a teammate on a project. These are all things that I take great pride in and what have enabled me to enjoy such a long career in the field.
Once you find a full-stack web developer who loves coding so much that he can work 10-hour days and the weekends, you will be hard-pressed to repeat that find twice. I truly enjoy my passion for coding and always love adding new tools to my toolbag. Whether creating a start-up, adding features to an existing project, or debugging legacy code, I look forward to using my experience to bring your project to fruition, satisfaction, and success.