When you type a URL on Google and tap Enter, you see a website. Let’s say the website opened quickly, and it is aesthetically pleasing too. You can easily navigate it and go through pages faster. These aspects clearly prove that the developers have done an excellent job developing it.
When it comes to software development, there are front-end developers, back-end developers, and full-stack developers. All of them have their relevance, but when hiring for your project, one might feel perplexed. As all of them have some major technicalities, one has to be more careful while hiring.
There are various aspects based on which you have to make a choice. We will carefully analyze all of them in this article, along with the differences between these development types. Let’s start!
Difference B/w full-stack, Front-end & Back-end Development
Ok, if you’re new to the development world, here is a quick overview of front-end, back-end, and full-stack development.
Front-end development
When you go to the website, everything that you see, from sliders, bars, pictures, colors, fonts, and everything that makes the website look attractive, comes under front-end development.
A front-end developer needs to have a very powerful knowledge of CSS, HTML, and Javascript to the core. Other than that, a front-end developer is also required to use frameworks like ReactJS, AngularJS, Bootstrap, etc. These tools help ensure that your website looks good on your phone too.
On top of all, as code organization is also crucial, it will be better if the developer also knows about JQuery and LESS.
Back-end development
Ok, we know that the front-end is the looks of the website. Now, when you click on a button, the content on the page changes. How does that happen? Is it the front-end? No, it is not!
The back-end is responsible for making sure that the specific components on the front-end function as they are intended to. For example, if you search for something on an eCommerce website, you will not be provided with any results if the back-end is not there. The back-end of a website or an application consists of an app, a server, and a database.
A back-end developer ensures that the front-end of the website is perfectly synced with the back-end via top-notch coding. A back-end developer uses languages like Ruby, PHP, Python, and many others for coding the back-end. The core motive of the back-end is to ensure seamless and faster communication between the application, server, and database.
Other than the programming languages, back-end developers are also required to have knowledge about the servers like MySQL, SQL, and Oracle. The core here is to save and change data.
Full-stack development
This job role was popularized by Facebook’s engineering department and has been great for those who know both front-end and back-end. Full-stack development encompasses both front-end and back-end development.
A full-stack developer is one who is knowledgeable about the technologies and frameworks required for front-end as well as back-end. One should hire full-stack developer who is proficient in
- Setting up and configuring a Linux server
- Writing server-side code and APIs
- Coding in Javascript
- Use CSS to deliver the best user interface to the users
In short, a full-stack developer is expected to take care of both the visual experience as well as the functionality of the website.
| Front-end Development | Back-end Development | Full-stack Development |
| Front-end developers deal with the visual part of the website or app. | The back-end development is all about ensuring that the website or the app functions as intended. | full-stack developers have a bit of everything, making them ideal for an entire project. |
| The front-end developers must be proficient in Javascript, CSS, HTML, etc. | Back-end developers need to have command on languages like Ruby, PHP, NodeJS, Java, etc. | a full-stack developer needs to possess a basic understanding of all the necessary languages and frameworks for front-end and back-end. |
| Front-end developers are responsible for the client side of the website. | Back-end developers are responsible for the server side of the website. | These developers are meant to take care of everything related to the website. |
How to Choose Between a Full-stack Developer and Front-end or Back-end Developer?
When you are on the hunt to hire developers for your project, there are a lot of aspects to lay eyes on. The difficulty rises when you have to hire multiple developers for multiple roles. To be blunt, hiring a full-stack developer from home is not going to work for every project.
All types of developers have their own pros and cons. One has to analyze them with respect to their project and various other aspects to land the best developer for their team. Let’s analyze the pros and cons of different developers!
Pros and Cons of Hiring Front-end or Back-end Developers
As front-end and back-end developers are specialized in one part; they have various pros and cons!
Pros
Expertise: Whether it is a front-end developer or back-end developer, when they are focussed on one part of the development cycle, it is easy to keep a tab on the latest developments. Hence, providing them with expertise.
Faster development time: An expert front-end or back-end developer is aligned with the best technologies and is focused on doing one job. As they don’t have to switch tasks, the development time decreases.
High-quality work: With the help of specialized developers, you can get high-quality work at all times.
Easy hiring: When you are looking for a front-end or a back-end developer, it is easy to hire as you don’t have to do much hunting. But, one needs to be careful while hiring specialized developers.
Cons
Development cost: It is pretty obvious that if you are hiring a specialized developer, the cost will be more. However, if you want a developer at a low cost, you can, but the development quality may get compromised.
Dependency: When the same type of developers is working together, it is imperative that they may go to each other for help if they are not equally experienced. As this might affect their productivity, the interdependency also affects the development speed.
Coordination: When there are multiple developers, coordination is the key. And sometimes, maintaining the right coordination can be super tough. You may have to hire a project manager to do it.
Pros and Cons of Hiring a Full Stack Developer
If you go and hire full-stack developer, here are the pros and cons that might come with them.
All-round support: This is the USP of a full-stack developer. As the full-stack developer has knowledge of everything, they can support the team single-handedly. They can even work single-handedly.
Fast learner: As the full-stack developer has mastered multiple skills consecutively, they are surefire to be fast learners. They can quickly grasp new skills and can get used to the workflow of your organization.
Less cost: A full-stack developer can handle small projects single-handedly. Hence, if you are hiring them for a small project, you will see a cost saving by a huge margin.
Fewer delays: As one person knows how to do and what to do, planning and execution can be near to perfect, which can ultimately prevent delays.
Cons
No mastery: A full-stack developer may not be a master at everything. Hence, for complex tasks, you may have to outsource.
Task management: Yes, there will be no delays, but in the absence of a proper plan, task management will be super tough in the case of a full-stack developer.
Whom to hire?
Here are some key criteria based on which you can decide which developer you need to hire!
The scale of the project: The first aspect to consider is the scale or size of the project. If you want to develop a simple offline music app, go for a full-stack developer. However, if you want to make a comprehensive app like Netflix or Amazon, the technicalities increase. It will be wise to hire a specialized developer for the back-end and front-end.
Skills required: The second thing is the skillset. As full-stack developers may not be super proficient in all the technologies, they are not a good fit for projects with more technicalities. For smaller projects that require fewer skills, a full-stack developer can be ideal.
Budget: Money is the final checkpoint. If you are ready to invest in quality, dedicated front-end and back-end developers should form your team. But, if you are low on budget, a properly vetted full-stack developer will be the best.
Let Recro Help You Decide What’s Best For You!
If you are in need of developers, you need to rely on the best of the best. Recro, by all means, is an exceptional and a one of a kind staff augmentation firm. Their eight years of competitive experience in the job market is what makes them unique.
Recro can help you solve the dilemma of choosing between a front-end, back-end, and full-stack developer. We at Recro have a team that carefully scans your custom project requirements and suggests you the best solution. As we do comprehensive market research and understand the audience’s requirements, we can help you scale your team pretty quickly.
When you have made your decision, we will provide you with the top 1-2% of developers. We keep a strict four-round vetting process that ensures the best developers in the world.
The best benefit that you get by choosing Recro is the response time. With developers hired by Recro, you wouldn’t have to do much hard work training them. They will be productive from day 1. If in case, you are not happy with the developer, we can hire another one within 30 days. In the first attempt, we can hire a developer in 15 days.
We have served various clients like Swiggy, Cure.fit, and Flipkart.
Conclusion
So, in the end, we can say that there are a lot of aspects based on which your decision depends. Make sure you analyze all your project needs and your budget before hiring the developers. If you need professional assistance, get in touch with Recro!
