I've noticed a recent trend toward traditionally more specialised developers (including my own area, front end) working more full stack.
Working full stack doesn't necessarily have to mean writing back end or platform code, but it might mean:
- Being aware of, and understanding, systems further up the stack
- Knowing enough about the whole stack to understand other engineers and "speak their language"
- Being able to debug back end or platform issues or isolate issues to any part of the whole stack
One tricky thing about software development is that work doesn't necessarily come in neat little packages that can be handed off to front end or back end. For example, a task that seems to be targetting user experience might end up involving a config change on the back end. Or a task that seems to be aimed at reducing server utilisation might end up involving a change to a front end API calling pattern.
It's very helpful for an engineer to be able to "jump in" to another part of the stack to make a code change or "jump on" a call with a engineers of a different specialisation.
This is quite a change from the very clearly demarcated front end vs. back end divide that I observed in the 2010s.
What explains it? A few factors from what I can gather:
- Tightened budgets. Thanks to the end of ZIRP and other factors, organisations want to do more work with fewer people and thus may demand more flexibility from their engineers.
- Increasing complexity and coupling of systems. Application features often require tight front end and back end coupling. For example, quickly filtering and visualising very large data sets stored on the server.
- Blurring of the lines. React Server Components (RSC) and associated frameworks such as NextJS involve code executing on both server and client, while HTMX focuses on markup and emphasises use of full-stack/backend templating engines to generate code targetting the browser. Working with these new tools blurs the distinction between the front end and back end skill set.
- Security issues that cross boundaries. Hackers don't care about our engineering specialisations! Exploits have increased in recent years and some of them (for example, CVE-2025-55182) touch on the whole stack.
- Maturation of the industry. As the current crop of front end engineers (including myself) mature and develop in their abilities, they are both able and expected to handle a broader set of problems.
- Increasing efficiency of tools. Spending less time fighting tools frees up engineers to focus on broader problem solving, across the stack.
With quite a few independent factors seeming to be involved, this seems like a pretty robust trend, which is likely to continue.
That said, I don't think the specialisations will disappear. I think there will continue to be distinct roles: front end, back end, platform, data, etc. But I think individuals in these roles will be expected to have knowledge beyond their area and be flexible about contributing in other areas.
