For some reason, people act like full stack development is a new concept, something invented by coding bootcamps in the 2010s to push people into tech. That’s nonsense. Full stack development has existed since the beginning of web development, and it’s an essential skill that some—not all—companies need. The idea that bootcamps somehow “created” full stack developers is as ridiculous as saying universities created software engineering.

Full Stack Development Is About Adaptability, Not Perfection

Full stack developers existed long before JavaScript frameworks, Node.js, and trendy bootcamps. In the early days of web development, you had no choice but to be full stack. The guy building a website in 1999 wasn’t just writing HTML and CSS—he was configuring the server, handling databases, and debugging the whole system. The need for specialization only came later as software became more complex and companies had the resources to separate concerns.

And that’s the key point: full stack development isn’t about being the best at everything—it’s about being able to work across both front-end and back-end when needed. This is exactly why full stack developers were perfect for startups like Facebook in its early days. When you’re building something from scratch, you don’t need specialists arguing over whose job it is to connect the API—you need people who can make things work, even if they aren’t perfect.

When You Need Full Stack vs. When You Need Specialists

It’s not about one being better than the other. It’s about context. A startup with limited resources benefits from full stack developers who can switch between tasks and push features out quickly. Mistakes can be fixed, and speed matters more than perfection.

On the other hand, in industries like banking and healthcare, precision is everything. You don’t want a generalist making critical mistakes in a financial transaction system or a patient’s medical records. In these cases, specialists are essential because errors can have severe consequences.

The Bottom Line

Bootcamps didn’t invent full stack developers. Full stack development has always existed, and it remains a valuable skill for certain environments. If you think every company needs specialists from day one, you don’t understand how software development works. The reality is that both full stack developers and specialists have their place—it just depends on the needs of the business.

So, if you still believe bootcamps created full stack development, maybe it’s time to rethink what you actually know about tech history.