As a tech journalist, I talk to a lot of companies who are struggling to figure out what kind of tech stack they need to innovate or stay competitive. This often comes down to decisions that can’t be decided by executives on their own. They need the insight of their developer teams, which is why I was interested to see how the community here on Dev.to is evaluating all the options available.

Early on, for example, I came across some excellent posts like this discussion that has already generated a ton of responses on the various right front end, back and and languages developers use.

Then there was this in-depth, very thoughtful exploration of the trade-offs that building a particular tech stack involve — from buggy code, lack of partners to deal with integrations and potential career roadblocks.

This was the key graph for me, and worth repeating even though the post is two years old:

It's a little "touchy-feely" of me, but as somebody who's been a part of the Apple ecosystem for a while I feel like I'm a part of something. When something new comes out we all talk about it together. We have Slack rooms and forums where we post questions, meetups at coffee shops, and events hosted by companies who are using these technologies. Once a year we show up at WWDC from all over the world. It's a real, tangible thing that you can feel and experience. It's a world you're a part of. It's not just a technology choice. There's a passion for the tools used. Many of the tools and developers with a deep history going back to NeXT, and I happen to think that's pretty cool.

I’m sure many other developers agree, but it got me wondering whether choosing the right tech stack is the only way to make you feel a part of something.

When I’ve interviewed developers, a recurring theme that often comes up is how committed they are to continuously learning. In some cases they’ve taken mini-sabbaticals in order to pursue an additional full-time software engineering course. In other cases they’re looking at short, intensive, training in data science and software development at places like Juno College and Lighthouse Labs here in Canada or CareerFoundry, which is located in Europe.

The most successful developers, in other words, are just as focused on building their “Ed Stack” — layering on additional education or refining their existing skill sets in order to stay career-ready or (more often than not) a sense of personal passion.

Compared with the tech stack discussions, through, I don’t see the same dialogue happening about what makes a successful ed stack. It’s something I’d love to see more of on a forum like this, because I think many employers have no idea how to hire, coach or mentor the developer talent they already have. They struggle to build a true team because they don’t even know the best places to direct staff for future professional development.

Much like a tech stack, an ed stack is rarely built once but needs to be periodically assessed and, improved upon. I’m not sure if people will be as willing to share it, but I’d love to hear how (or if) developers consciously think about their ed stack -- and how they build it.

I’m not sure if people will be as willing to share it, but I’d love to hear how (or if) developers consciously think about their ed stack.