Full stack developers rate their happiness above average.

At CareerExplorer, we conduct an ongoing survey with millions of people and ask them how satisfied they are with their careers. As it turns out, full stack developers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5 stars which puts them in the top 37% of careers.

To put this into perspective, we compared how happy full stack developers are to similar careers in the industry. Take a look at the results below:

Salaries and satisfaction ratings in similar careers

Career Satisfaction Avg Salary
Computer hardware engineer
3.5
$95k
UX designer
3.5
$106k
Industrial designer
3.5
$62k
App developer
3.5
$71k
Full stack developer
3.4
$70k
Back-End developer
3.4
$67k
Technical product manager
3.4
$78k
Systems architect
3.4
$102k
Systems engineer
3.4
$100k

So what does it mean to be happy in your career? Let’s break it down into different dimensions:

  • Salary: Are full stack developers happy with their salary?
  • Meaning: Do full stack developers find their jobs meaningful?
  • Personality fit: How well suited are people’s personalities to their everyday tasks as full stack developers?
  • Work environment: How enjoyable are full stack developer’s work environments?
  • Skills utilization: Are full stack developers making the best use of their abilities?

Are full stack developers happy with their salary?

Full stack developers rated their satisfaction with their salaries 3.5/5. The majority of full stack developers are quite happy with their salaries, with very few having complaints about their income level.

We asked full stack developers how fairly compensated they are for their work.
Their response was:

3.5 out of 5 stars

394 full stack developers

5 Star
23%

23% of full stack developers rated their compensation 5 stars

4 Star
31%

31% of full stack developers rated their compensation 4 stars

3 Star
24%

24% of full stack developers rated their compensation 3 stars

2 Star
14%

14% of full stack developers rated their compensation 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of full stack developers rated their compensation 1 stars

Do full stack developers find their jobs meaningful?

On average, full stack developers rate the meaningfulness of their work a 2.9/5. While most full stack developers aren’t very fulfilled by their work, some people may still manage to find meaning in it.

We asked full stack developers how meaningful they found their work.
Their response was:

2.9 out of 5 stars

395 full stack developers

5 Star
15%

15% of full stack developers rated how meaningful they found their career 5 stars

4 Star
22%

22% of full stack developers rated how meaningful they found their career 4 stars

3 Star
23%

23% of full stack developers rated how meaningful they found their career 3 stars

2 Star
24%

24% of full stack developers rated how meaningful they found their career 2 stars

1 Star
17%

17% of full stack developers rated how meaningful they found their career 1 stars

How well are people’s personalities suited to everyday tasks as full stack developers?

Full stack developers rated their personality fit with their work an average of 3.9/5. The majority of full stack developers find their personalities quite well suited to their work, with relatively few having complaints about their fit.

We asked full stack developers how well their personalities fit into their careers.
Their response was:

3.9 out of 5 stars

394 full stack developers

5 Star
35%

35% of full stack developers rated their career fit 5 stars

4 Star
39%

39% of full stack developers rated their career fit 4 stars

3 Star
17%

17% of full stack developers rated their career fit 3 stars

2 Star
6%

6% of full stack developers rated their career fit 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of full stack developers rated their career fit 1 stars

How enjoyable is a full stack developer’s work environment?

As a whole, full stack developers rated their enjoyment of their work environment 3.8/5. A solid majority of full stack developers enjoy their work environment, probably contributing to overall higher satisfaction with working as a full stack developer.

We asked full stack developers how much they enjoyed their work environment.
Their response was:

3.8 out of 5 stars

392 full stack developers

5 Star
29%

29% of full stack developers rated their work environment 5 stars

4 Star
36%

36% of full stack developers rated their work environment 4 stars

3 Star
21%

21% of full stack developers rated their work environment 3 stars

2 Star
10%

10% of full stack developers rated their work environment 2 stars

1 Star
4%

4% of full stack developers rated their work environment 1 stars

Are full stack developers making the best use of their abilities?

Former full stack developers on CareerExplorer have rated their skills utilization 3.4/5. Most full stack developers are satisfied with how well their abilities are skills are made of use.

We asked full stack developers how well their abilities were used in their careers.
Their response was:

3.4 out of 5 stars

394 full stack developers

5 Star
22%

22% of full stack developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 5 stars

4 Star
27%

27% of full stack developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 4 stars

3 Star
28%

28% of full stack developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 3 stars

2 Star
16%

16% of full stack developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 2 stars

1 Star
7%

7% of full stack developers rated their how well their skills were utilized in their career 1 stars