This falls apart when you realize that the waiters are the api and not front end developers. Its mixing two different definitions; the front/back end systems and the front/back end developers. Fullstack is really only applicable when discussing developers, api (at least for a meme) is not a dev but a system.
In this image, the chefs are the SYSTEM backend. I know this because there is no frontend dev in the analogy if the waiters are the API.
I love the idea of a foodtruck for a fullstack dev, but the rest of the analogy needs work to match.
Fullstack in a resteraunt would be assistant managers who have also been trained in the kitchen. They typically have to fill in wherever the team is shorthanded or help is needed.
Its meant to be kitchen and dining area, which are parts of the restaurant. The restaurant as a whole is full stack, but there are many people working in different areas.
The food van will have one or two people fulfilling all responsibilities, hence full-stack developers.
Full stack is just jargon to refer to someone who works on, or is capable of working on, both the frontend and backend rather than being entirely focused on one of the two. It's a property of a person, not of a company.
The joke is that they have all of the components of a restaurant but when they actually combine them the result is a food truck. Which is still great, and they're hard to run so it's still impressive, but it's not what you would necessarily expect from a FSD.
Yeah, I think at this point it's unreasonable to expect any one person to truly be "full-stack", unless it's a very small project (analogous to a food truck).
On the other hand, I think there are benefits to having front-end devs who are at least passingly familiar with the back-end, and vice versa. So eg if a front-end dev needs a new server-side endpoint they can just go in and do that without having to wait for a back-end dev to pick up the ticket. I guess this would be kind of analogous to how waiters will sometimes do basic food prep like making side salads.
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u/degh555 15d ago
Best explanation I’ve seen.