What Is a Full-Stack Engineer? Job Description

The full-stack engineering skill set is broad and versatile. If you want to learn how to build an application from the ground up, this could be a fulfilling and exciting career path for you. This article breaks down the responsibilities and requirements to become a successful full-stack engineer.

What is a full-stack engineer?

The term “full-stack” refers to the engineer’s ability to work on an application's front-end and back-end development. A full-stack engineer is a high-level software engineer who works to design, test, and implement various software applications. They create software, applications, and scalable web services, while also providing leadership for coding teams. Full-stack engineers usually possess prodigious skills and are involved in each stage of software development. This can include data structure completion, architecture design, code review, performance evaluation, internal tool management, and updates.

Front-end development

The front end of an application refers to everything a user can see. It's also known as the client side. Front-end development is concerned primarily with the user interface (UI), including elements of design, usability, navigation tools, and graphical components such as images.

Read more: What Does a Front-End Developer Do?

Back-end development

The back end of an application includes everything that users cannot see. It's sometimes referred to as the server side. Back-end development focuses on functionality. Examples of back-end components include data storage, security, and overall performance.

Read more: What Does a Back-End Developer Do?

What does a full-stack engineer do?

At the beginning of a project, full-stack engineers may meet with members of the software development team in order to lay out the scale and scope of the software project. After that, they will begin designing and building the software. Full-stack engineers write various high-level and low-level code. They troubleshoot errors, help design the user experience (UX), resolve bugs, and improve the overall efficiency of the software. Full-stack engineers need excellent collaboration skills because they work with front- and back-end development team members.

Full-stack engineer tools and skills

Full-stack engineers are master coders. They are typically familiar with the following popular programming languages:

• Python

• JavaScript

• C

• Node

• HTML/CSS

• SQL

• PHP [1]

Often, full-stack engineers obtain a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or a related field. However, many employers may accept certifications or relevant work experience instead of a degree.

Work environment

Considering that companies in a wide variety of niches have software applications, jobs are available in many different industries. However, it is most common for full-stack developers to work in the tech industry. In 2022, software developers held around 1.6 million jobs. The top five employers for these roles include:

1. Computer systems design

2. Software publishing companies

3. Finance and insurance

4. Manufacturing

5. Company and enterprise management [2]

Full-stack engineer salary and job outlook

The demand for computer and information technology professionals, such as full-stack engineers, is expected to increase by 25 percent between 2022 and 2032 [2]. This figure translates into an above-average amount of job opportunities for full-stack engineers in the coming decade. Because full-stack engineers are extremely skilled software developers, the pay for this position tends to be higher than average.

The average yearly pay for a full-stack developer in the US is $137,000 [3]. The exact salary that you can earn will depend on your experience, your skills, and the company that you are working for. For example, the average full-stack engineer salary for someone with 0-1 year of experience is $99,000. In contrast, the average annual salary for someone with 4-6 years of experience in full-stack development is $117,000.

How to become a full-stack engineer

The first step toward a career in full-stack engineering is typically a Bachelor's degree or a Master of Computer Science. A degree in computer science or a related field is one way to gain the skills you need to handle the responsibilities of a full-stack engineer.

You can also gain practical experience and professional qualifications through Professional Certificates in full-stack engineering. For example, you can earn a certificate in Full Stack Software Development with IBM's online program:

Build a portfolio.

Another way to demonstrate your abilities is to build a portfolio. A portfolio is a collection of work that highlights your expertise. Full-stack engineers can use open-source or free development tools to independently create projects, applications, and websites. A few examples of open-source development tools include GitHub and React. With a portfolio, you have a tangible demonstration of your skills along with your resume.

Become a full-stack engineer with Coursera

Start building your full-stack engineer portfolio and gain job-ready skills with an industry leader by earning IBM's Full Stack Software Developer Professional Certificate. In this introductory program, you'll work with industry-standard languages and technologies such as HTML, JavaScript, React, and Kubernetes.

To expand your existing skill set to encompass the full stack, consider enrolling in an intermediate-level program like Meta's Full Stack. You'll build your own full-stack application using Django and explore the different production environments to which web applications are deployed.

Gain the skills you need for hybrid mobile app development with the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology's Full Stack Web Development with Angular Specialization. In this self-paced course series, you'll work your way up to building multi-platform apps using Bootstrap, Ionic, Node.Js, and Angularjs.