Full Stack Developers vs. Specialized Developers: Who Should You Hire?

Due to the fast development in the IT industry, a developer should possess a huge range of skills and be an expert in their particular area. And as a result of this requirement, full-stack developers are taking over other developers in the business field.

But, to solve this issue and answer the question that many people have- is it always good to recruit a generalist and not a specialist, we have curated some thoughts about choosing the best web developers for your project from a full stack and specialized developers before starting further.

Let us first discuss what full stack and specialized developers are to select the one that suits your business needs.

Who is a Full Stack Developer?

A Full Stack developer works on both the front end and back end of the website or mobile application. A developer that can work on business projects that require the development of user-friendly websites and applications as well as working with the clients throughout the project planning is a full-stack developer.

As a full stack developer is skilled and professional in multiple programming languages, and different stages of software development, they only have expertise in technical fields. A full-stack developer has expertise in web development, UX design, app development, and many more. Full-stack developers have a better understanding of combining multiple languages and frameworks.

Client-Side Front-end Languages:

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript

Front-end Frameworks:

• C++
• GO
• Java
• PHP
• Python
• Ruby
• Angular JS
• React.JS

Frameworks for the Backend

• Spring
• Rails by Ruby
• Laravel
• Flask
• Node.JS

A full stack developer only provides the lines of the website code sometimes as they spend more time working on the backend and front-end programming of the website. Therefore, the duties of a full-stack developer go beyond that of developing the codes for websites. It is because developers make use of multiple tools, frameworks, and libraries rather than creating all the code by themselves.

Full-stack developers are the most desirable people for any type of business as they are experts in understanding the deployment of front-end and back-end technologies.

Pros of Full Stack Developer

1. Multi-talented developer

 A full-stack developer is known as the jack of all trades. From the front end to testing and QA, they can handle it all. Full-stack developers easily identify different issues across the process and try to solve them without any help from specialized developers.

2. Flexibility

While a specialized developer sticks to a particular area of expertise, full-stack developers are best to choose for any service and client-side framework that makes it easier to switch between different domains.

3. Cost

A full-stack developer handles both the front-end and back-end work of a website or a mobile application on their own. This means that you can hire a full-stack developer that can replace two or more specialized developers at a low cost.

Cons of Full-Stack Developer

1. Does not take full responsibility

Full-stack developers work on multiple tasks together and distribute their work into small tasks. This confuses no developer can take full responsibility for any type of job. And, therefore, it is hard to keep track of the entire development process.

2. Not synced with the latest technology advancements

Full-stack developers are aware of what is going on around them, but unlike other developers, they have to work in various fields. And, this makes it challenging for them to be updated with the current and latest technologies to be used.

Who is a Specialized Developer?

A specialized software developer is an expert in a particular discipline. Just like the full-stack developer, a specialized developer knows everything about the whole software development process. The specialized developers focus on one area of their expertise and offer the people all the solutions they need.

The specialized software developer is the go-to person for a specific task that a company owner has to work on such as software design, database design, entity framework, and domain modeling. Specialized app developers are best for creating high-quality online mobile applications. 

Pros of Specialized Developer

1. Dividing Work Amongst Teams is Easy

As you know the expertise of every member of the team, it is easy to designate tasks accordingly. This also makes the allocation process effective and saves time in completing the process.

2. Provide High Work Quality

As specialized developers are experts in different specific disciplines, they offer clients high-quality work. Therefore, it can also be said that these developers can produce sophisticated results when compared to a full-stack developer.

3. Upgraded with the Latest Technology Developments

The specialized developers always keep them updated with all the latest trends and development to work on the software development process. It is also easy for them to showcase these updates as they are focused on a particular programming work rather than the whole process.

Cons of Specialized Developer

1. High Cost for Expertise

You have to hire two different specialized software developers for both the front-end and back-end processes. This type of specialization may increase the cost of hiring and getting the right expertise.

2. Dependency of Developers on Each Other

Cross-domain dependency is the biggest con of a specialized developer. They cannot handle everything on their own to complete the software development process and are dependent on other specialized developers to complete the tasks.

Full Stack Developer vs. Specialist Developer

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So, now how to decide which developer to hire for completing the software development process- Full stack Developer or Specialized Developer.

The answer to this question depends on some factors such as project size, budget, quality, and flexibility. Let us know about the factors in more detail.

• Project Size

If you are a startup and want to hire developers, then you will need a team on a broader range to work on your project. Here, the best choice is to hire a team of full-stack developers.  And, if you are in search of developers for more large projects, then you will need specialized developers to work on small tasks.

• The flexibility of the Project

The choice of developers also depends on your requirements for the project. When you have a project with rigid requirements, then hiring a specialized developer is a perfect choice. And, if not, then you can pick a team of full-stack developers.

• Quality of Work

Full-stack developers can work on various types of projects, but the specialized developer is only restricted to their expertise. This also means that the quality of the work is good by a specialist developer. Therefore, if you are working on a software project that requires high work quality, then specialized developers are the right choice.

• Budget

As we noticed earlier, hiring a specialized developer can cost more than a full-stack developer. So, it works according to the company’s budget and the amount the business owners want to spend on hiring the developers.

Conclusion

Therefore, for a startup, a full-stack developer is the right option. For sophisticated and superior solutions, specialized developers are the best. Both developers have their advantages and disadvantages, so you should thoroughly grasp everything about the project first and decide which developer to choose.

Still, confused about which developer to hire for your company’s work? Let our web developers in Bangalore provide you with better insights to help you pick the right team of developers to start the software development process. We can easily analyze the business requirements and get the ideal team of professional developers.