How To Make A Tech Stack Work For You

03 Aug 2022
8 min read

Sofię_Nalimską

Project Manager

Tools and technologies chosen by a company are crucial for its development and market promotion. They indicate the company’s ability to develop and deploy a project quickly. The stack can change a project’s quality, development time, and cost. If you fail to choose the proper instruments, you will not be able to attract and keep customers. What identifies the choice of a stack? It is the architecture of a particular project, its complexity, and system requirements. So, a company needs to clearly understand what functionality should be a priority, what is in demand, what development trends exist, and what tools can increase work efficiency. This can be especially difficult if you are a young startup and are only at the beginning of your journey. That is why highly qualified specialists from Powercode decided to prepare a small guide in which we will explain what a Tech Stack is, why it is essential and how to make the right choice so that it works for you and contributes to the growth of the company.

What is a Tech Stack?

A Tech Stack is a set of tools used while working on projects and applications. It usually includes programming languages, front-end and back-end frameworks, compilers, database management systems, etc. When a company starts thinking about its Tech Stack, it is rational to choose open source technologies and those able to integrate smoothly and promptly in various projects. For complex processes and systems, a Tech Stack determines how affordable it will be to deploy the system and in what way it will satisfy the customer’s demands. It expands developers’ possibilities and range of orders. The main operational areas of software development companies are web and mobile applications. Each of them has its set of tools. A Web Tech Stack combines the client- and server-side technologies highly needed for web application development. In general, the overall layers are of the same construction. Unlike mobile apps, web apps do not need to be downloaded to a device. So, a Mobile Tech Stack is usually more extensive and optimized for various channels. Developers must consider an application for which platform, Android, iOS, or cross-platform, they are intended to create. Based on this information, they implement specific platform-oriented technologies.

The importance of a Tech Stack

A Tech Stack is like an engine in your car. It can be a small 1-liter 3-cylinder like in Volkswagen Up or a huge 8.0-liter W16 with four turbochargers like in Bugatti Veyron 16.4. Your team can keep up from the project’s starting point and develop the speed of its implementation instantly, without losing quality and significantly outperforming other players in the market. Wisely chosen Tech Stack facilitates managing apps and provides opportunities to design and implement a product on time within the customer’s budget. It unites the most appropriate and efficient technologies for your corporate priorities enabling you to make fast and best decisions. It saves your time and expenses. Poorly chosen Tech Stack works the exact composite. Suppose the balance between technologies is broken, or you do not reconsider its relevance according to your changing needs and market demands. In that case, it will either destroy you or speed up this process.

Key components of a Tech Stack

Tech Stack infographics

Tips for getting the most of your Tech Stack

When you start thinking about what to include into a stack, you should not do it in a hurry, just for the sake of it; and then, while working, figure out details further. This is a utopian solution. Though there is no universal recipe for an appropriate Tech Stack for all companies, here are some common ingredients you should always keep in mind. Tips to choose Tech Stack

1. Research, explore, and dig into the issue

Any serious step requires a comprehensive and balanced approach. It is not enough to skim through existing tools and technologies and just point your finger at the ones you find more appealing. Before choosing, you need to conduct a thorough study of the issue, view it from all sides, and only then make a decision. Also, do not entrust it to someone else. If you want to achieve results, then do it yourself. Of course, you can take advantage of the consultation with narrow specialists in those matters that require special knowledge, for example, which programming languages are best suited for your purposes and what benefits they have over others. Don’t forget to consider your company’s niche and the availability of selected elements for the technology stack, which may be open-source and free, paid without or with a free trial period.

2. Identify objectives and criteria

To create a high-quality product, you should think about its purpose and goals. Draw a product map outlining all the tasks it should perform and its type – mobile, web, or cross-platform application. Visualization will help you clearly see all the features. You can prioritize specific criteria while choosing a technology stack only when you establish all these peculiarities. Thus, for example, if you are demanded to create a simple business website presenting a company online, you don’t need sophisticated technology, and it will be enough to use HTML and CSS. On the contrary, when creating a SaaS platform, you will expand a set of tools, including Node.js, Angular, Swift, Kotlin, or Stripe.

3. Focus on your team expertise

When implementing projects of any complexity, your team of professionals will use a Tech Stack daily. That is why it is crucial for you not to forget about your employees and their skills. You can choose the most advanced and complex technologies that greatly simplify the work process, but your team members will not have experience in working with them or will not know how they operate. In this case, the “cool” and advanced Tech Stack won’t help you at all. Be sure to find out how much each team member is tech-savvy, what they are used to working with, what they are learning, and if they require additional skills. In addition, examine how quickly and painlessly your company can switch from one set of technologies to another if necessary. After establishing this information, you can provide terms and conditions for staff training or reconsider your personnel policy.

4. Consider scalability, adaptability, and feasibility

The main task of any Tech Stack is to be scalable and adaptable. Your set of technologies should scale quickly, both horizontally and vertically. The first type of scaling allows your team to cope with rapid growth in the number of users and activities. The second provides the ability to add additional features to the core set of functionality. Moreover, your technology stack should easily adapt to changes within your company and the market as a whole. If the tool is constantly changing depending on the client’s expectations and does not lose its relevance and effectiveness, it will benefit you in the long run. The listed above is one of the main conditions for the company’s potential growth.

5. Address security

In today’s world, the issue of cybersecurity is one of the most relevant. When creating a product, you must provide a secure environment. Of course, no tool is 100% immune to security vulnerabilities. However, you can choose those for your Tech Stack with a higher level of protection and can guarantee better defense against hacker attacks or information leaks. This is especially important if you build banking, finance, healthcare, or corporate messaging apps. The safety of your customers must always be a priority if you want to continue to grow your business. There is always an alternative – to prefer an advanced technology that provides a high level of performance and speed but is not sufficiently researched for security, or to choose a less productive but more secure technology. The choice is always yours.

Final Words

Choosing a technical stack can be time- and energy-consuming because, unfortunately, there is no universal, equally efficient stack for all projects. When approaching this question, you should primarily focus on the specific requirements for creating a particular product. Speaking in general about the stack for your company, it is necessary to analyze and check all possible options carefully. Your choice determines what products you can create and what experience you can provide to customers in the future. Therefore, do not be afraid to seek support from professionals. Our friendly team of highly skillful and experienced developers is ready to assist you in understanding this issue, estimate your requirements and suggest the most optimal set of tools for developing a competitive high-functioning application. All you need is to write us a few lines here.