To be fair I have no idea about the full stack life. I, however, am also not convinced they add "immediate" value. Once you're beyond mid-level being a so-called generalist is not as useful. Most of my work at high senior, and now staff level requires actual deep knowledge of the preferred stack. I have yet to meet a reformed full stack developer in our ranks and there are tons we hire, and even more that come through the door.
I don’t touch the front end development. But I am very much a “generalist”.
- back end development in a few popular languages
- about an average “data architect” for lack of a better word. I’ve led implementations on every type of database imaginable including ETL type jobs and online systems.
- “DevOps” (at least if you give me an AWS account) including setting up networking infrastructure, logging, monitoring, CI/CD, etc.
I’ve led plenty of pre-sales meetings, writing SOWs, pretty PowerPoint slides and architecture diagrams etc.
The “generalist” is very useful when you need someone to lead projects and to understand how everything fits together. I’ve had to wear all of the above hats at startups. Now I wear those same hats at a cloud provider I’m sure you have heard of. I specifically targeted my current position because I wanted to be a generalist.
I’m no special snowflake. Many of my coworkers who came up the ranks in startups and have similar experience can do the same.
