A tech stack is easily becoming one of the most thrown-around words in the world of products and businesses. The most commonly used definition of a tech stack is a set of coding languages and platforms used by companies to build products and manage operations. 

But this is not enough. With businesses relying so heavily on tech stacks these days, it definitely serves better to know about it in a little more detail. 

The popular definition does summarize the meaning of tech stack. To further clarify: a tech stack is a set of frameworks, coding languages, and servers used primarily by businesses to build products, manage business operations and measure performance metrics. 

A tech stack has two elements to it: Front-end and Back-end. 

The front-end tech stack is the one that your customers use to interact with your product. It has further three elements to it: 

HTML: HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML) dictates where everything goes. 

CSS: Cascading Style Sheets determine the look and feel of the content. It controls colors, fonts, layouts, etc. 

Javascript: This rules the overall functionality and interactivity of the website. 

To put it in crude terms: if the Front-end tech stack is your house, the back-end is the furniture and furnishing that go in that transmute the concrete building into a home. 

The Back-end tech stack has the following components: 

• Programming languages: A programming language is the type of code a developer like Javascript, Python, or PHP. 

• Framework: Framework is a library with a set of codes designed to make the coding process more efficient and easier. Ruby on Rails, Django, and Laravel are a few frameworks gaining popularity for their sophisticated design and use. 

• Database: A database in the programming world is like a filing cabinet that stores all the data in a structured and efficient manner. Some common types of databases include Relational databases: Oracle, MySQL, NoSQL databases: MongoDB, CouchDB,  and Graph databases: Neo4j and ArangoDB. 
• Server: A server is a tool your code uses to serve the application to the users. Apache, Nginx, or IIS are some popular servers used to enhance user experience. 

So now that you have learned what a tech stack is, let’s talk about the kinds of the tech stack you have available for your use. 

Let’s go back to the analogy of the house. There are two ways you can build it: Hire a standard builder (pre-built solution) or the one that accounts for your particular needs (custom tech stack). And the difference between a pre-built solution and a custom tech stack applies here as well. 

When you use a pre-built solution, it’s one designed by experts from the perspective of one-size-fits-all. This is great if you don’t have the time or resources to choose every element But are you sure that that’s enough? Your product carries your idea and your vision. And even when you think that it will consume a lot of time to pick out every single element in the beginning, it will affect how your business runs in the future. To lay it out, the difference is when you want to invest time and resources. If you invest time now, you can rest assured about accommodating needs and features in the future(custom tech stack).

While a pre-built solution is not completely beyond the pale for the benefit of your business, it’s not the most ideal solution either. A pre-built solution allows for easy implementation and a low price when you’re just beginning and is low on funds. But bear in mind that it won’t be as flexible and efficient as a custom tech stack. 

To further illustrate the point, here is a summary of the limitations of the pre-built tech stack: 

• The functionality of the product and further customization is limited by the platform you use.
• No unique flow in operations and further additions.
• Time-consuming and hassle when you want to further refine and customize. 
• Additional cost for additional features. 

Tech products are getting more and more sophisticated as time goes by because we live in a world of lifelong learners and kickass coders who know their products inside out. Let alone gaining a competitive advantage, just to survive in the ever-blooming tech industry you need malleability in the very foundation of your products. 

The tech stack you use will determine the kind of coders you will hire and the kind of product you’ll build in general. Developers usually qualify in one specific element of development because as you see there are so many different elements that come together to build a single product. And that is why it’s imperative that you choose one that is right for you. 

After spending several years in the tech-building industry we have found that the best thing you can do to build a more intricate product– one that enhances your customer experience– is to always go for a custom tech stack. 

Why Do the Most Kickass Leaders and Developers in the Industry Prefer a Custom Tech Stack over a Pre-built Solution?

A custom tech stack is a set of the building blocks and elements you use where all your unique business needs are considered and optimized not only for your present business needs but also flexible enough to change in the future. 

To further explain why you need a custom tech stack, here’s a list of the benefits of a custom tech stack: 

• Flexibility and customization: Reiterating the point above, the tech stack allows flexibility and customization to changing demands of your business.
• Better security and compliance: Security is one of the key aspects of users that reinstates the credibility of your product. A custom tech stack allows you to build your business with this key feature right from the ground up ensuring that all potential vulnerabilities are minimized, while a pre-built solution may have possibilities of security breaches that cannot be easily remediated. 
• Competitive advantage: A custom tech stack is the way for increased efficiency and productivity for your business and in this day and age, with endless products in the market, nothing less will do. With an intricately built product, you have an upper hand against other players in the industry you operate in. 
• Cost-effective: A successful business is not about minimizing expenses, but rather directing the cash flow in an effective way for the present and the future. While a pre-built tech stack can be a good starting point, it may include unnecessary components that only increase unnecessary costs in the long run. A custom tech stack, on the other hand, is built with only essential components resulting in cost savings. 

Having said that, we also understand why some businesses still prefer pre-builts over customs. Here are some possible common challenges you might encounter while building a custom tech stack: 

• Ensuring that all different components of your tech stack are compatible with each other. For example, the front-end framework may not be compatible with a particular back-end language, or a database server may not be able to handle the scale of the application. 

• Building a custom tech stack requires a high level of technical expertise from developers who know and understand a wide range of programming languages, frameworks, databases, and other tools. And it can also be costly for this reason to build one.
• Along with careful planning and design, a custom tech stack requires ongoing audit and optimization at several stages of business growth. 

Overall, building a tech stack is a complex process. However, with careful planning and expertise, it has the possibility of yielding huge benefits to the unique needs of your business. 

Now that we have you convinced of a custom tech stack and its variable uses for your business, you might be wondering how to build one. Worry not, we have you covered. 

How to Build a Custom Tech Stack?

Step 1: Although we have talked about this, it’s the most crucial step in building your tech stack. Take some time to consider the elements your business needs to run effectively. This includes everything: from your core idea to the final digital communication you use to build your brand’s presence in the industry. 

Step 2: A consultation with your team and industry experts would be really useful at this stage. Create a plan that also entails the challenges your team might face. Choosing your tech stack will revolve around mitigating the challenges they meet on an everyday basis.

Step 3: As mentioned already (refer to the challenges section), integration and compatibility are crucial in mapping the success of the tech stack you build. You need to ensure that all the different elements you pick work well with one another. 

Step 4: Good going so far, you have built a well-functioning system. Now you just need to find people who can operate this system well. Find the right people who know how to work with the elements you have chosen. If you are wondering where to find them, just go to workfall.com and find kickass coding experts who can work well with your chosen elements. 

You now know how to build a tech stack but still might not be sure what a comprehensive custom tech stack might look like. Look no further! Here are some examples of well-known products that have adopted the custom tech-stack approach: 

Airbnb: A successful product that allows people to book other people’s homes for temporary use. The tech stack of Airbnb is made up of JavaScript, Nginx, React, Java, Redis, MySQL, and Rails. 

Netflix: The increasingly- popular streaming platform requires no introduction. Here’s what its custom tech stack includes: Oracle, Amazon SES, Airship, Falcor, and Github. 

Amazon: One of the most successful products of our times also boasts a sophisticated tech stack: React, Java, MySQL, AngularJS, Redux, Perl, and Amazon’s inbuilt elements like Amazon S3, Amazon EMR, Amazon EBS, Amazon SQS, Amazon SimpleDB among others. 

Conclusion 

The different elements you use to build your business directly hark back to your business strategy. And as your business grows, your strategy will also grow and expand. You might not have need for some blocks you used in the past and you might need to invest in some new tools. Choosing the right tech stack for your business becomes even more crucial to the success of your project. This choice impacts every aspect of the development process: scalability, security, and overall user experience of your application or system. 

As the list of your customers grows longer, you will need to continuously modify and change your building elements to reach peak efficiency. And just for this simple reason, it’s advisable to choose a custom tech stack from the very beginning. 

The best in the industry know and believe that their product will grow. And as it grows, changes will be required: right from how your logo looks to the harmony of different elements in the tech stack that makes your business. If your business is unlike any other, why should your tech stack be anything less?