If you’re in technology recruitment, you know that one of the hottest trends skills to source the ‘full-stack’ developer. Companies big and small hire ‘full-stack’ because there’s a belief that hiring a candidate with skills across a tech stack will result in cost savings across the board.
Is this realistic? Can the people and culture executive of an average start-up or large organization really minimize their cost of hiring by finding such a unique candidate? Candidly, yes – it’s very possible to curb your hiring costs when hiring a full-stack developer. In fact, it can be a creative solution to a product development team looking for a fresh perspective on their work.
Why Do Developers Want to be Full Stack?
According to research from Indeed, engineers are more likely to adapt to a full-stack engineer career early in their career. This is often to amass a wealth of experience and to help them fine-tune their area of specialization in their career. That’s why younger software developers – typically ‘entry-level’ to intermediate – tend to land with start-ups. Start-ups are able to offer an environment that is responsible for figuring out how to build a new product – that means the budding engineer can work on multiple sides of the product engineering team.
More established engineers sometimes gravitate towards full-stack developer opportunities, too. This is mainly because they’re not interested in being ‘forced’ to working on a specific technology.
It seems that regardless of seniority, there’s a great benefit to becoming a full-stack developer!
Full-Stack Developers are Difference Makers
When you’re sick and in need of medical attention, who do you turn to first: the surgeon, the neurologist, or the family doctor/general practitioner?
The answer, of course, is your friendly neighborhood general practitioner. Every other medical specialization will analyze your illness through their own specialization’s methodology. Yes, they’re all doctors at the end of the day – but a surgeon specializes in seeing obviously glaring issues that require surgical intervention, NOT your uncomfortable illness.
Full-stack developers are the general practitioners of the software development world. Like a family doctor, they’re trained to see a problem holistically. A full-stack developer can support the building of a product using a holistic strategy that incorporates all aspects of the design-build – not just the back end or the front end.
People and culture executives who incorporate best practices into their craft do see the value in hiring full-stack developers where appropriate. Sometimes, it may be necessary to directly hire for a Java developer; other times, it is a great idea to infuse the expertise of a family doctor – I mean, a full-stack developer – to see what else can be possible.
At ITS Global, we specialize in workforce management consulting. Our clients rely on us to effectively implement a talent acquisition program that will allow them to scale their growth and be a success. Let’s meet to discuss further – coffees on us! You can reach out to us at 416-689-4653 or email Ross Cadastre at [email protected] to schedule a confidential free meeting today