As the number of startups grows, the demand for full-stack web developers has also skyrocketed. But how do you get a job when you have zero experience? Luckily, mastering full stack web development and possibly amassing a lot of experience through self-built projects isn't so difficult. With an online course, building yourself up for the career of a full stack web developer takes a few weeks of commitment. The question is, should you become a full stack web developer?

Why full stack web development?

Full stack web developers combine the skillsets of designers, front-end developers, back-end developers, and database gurus into a single role. So instead of a startup hiring these roles separately, a full stack developer can handle everything.

Why should you go for a full stack web development path when there are front and back end options?

Being a full stack web developer comes with a lot of perks, including the ability to build entire products from scratch, gives you access to a wide range of design, development, and other technical skills, and broadens your view in the web development world.

Mastering full stack web development also gives you the ability to lead product teams, build your mind for more sensitive product issues, and improves your problem-solving abilities. Plus, you will have a better chance of getting into startups and other companies that are always looking for full stack developers.

So what makes a full stack developer?

Becoming a full stack web developer requires you to know a lot of things. Essentially, you need to assume different roles, right from design to testing and launching web applications.  So how many hats do you have to wear to become a full stack web developer?

The design hat

Your first call to mastering full stack web development is to master your design. You need to know yourself around color schemes, typography, and design principles, as well as have a grasp of user interface and user experience design. Bear in mind that knowing how to do your own design doesn’t make you a UX/UI designer, but rather helps you to gather the basic knowledge to build products and web applications from scratch.

The front-end development hat

Another skillset to have as a full stack developer is knowledge of front-end technologies. Apart from helping you build product features and render designs to web-based platforms, front-end development is also the gateway to building user experience on the web.

This requires you to have a deep understanding of front-end technologies. Among the technologies you need to master are HTML, CSS, JavaScript as well as frameworks such as SASS, LESS, JQuery, React or AngularJS among others.

Programming languages – the back-end development hat

Apart from building the back-end of web applications, back-end developers are also responsible for structuring, implementing, and testing projects. Back-end development is the most important skill set that any full stack developer should possess.

Among others, some of the most important programming languages to master in the back-end development skillset include Java, Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby, C#, and more. It’s also good to know how to use GitHub to administer and share your progress, as well as knowledge of development frameworks such as Django, Hibernate, and MyBatis among others.

The database hat

Web applications require databases to store and manage user data and you need to master these technologies if you want to succeed as a full stack web developer.  Some of the popular technologies to learn in this category include Oracle, Redis, SQLServer, MySQL, and MongoDB among others.

Final morsels: your personality hat

Mastering full stack web development requires you to have certain qualities as an individual. Succeeding in this industry requires global and broader thinking capabilities, great communication skills, time management abilities, creativity, and curiosity among others.