Hey there! My name is John and I‘ve worked in the software industry for over 10 years leading QA and test automation initiatives. Throughout my career, I‘ve worked with hundreds of talented engineers across the full stack and DevOps spectrum.
If you‘re looking to transition into development and operations, you likely have questions about these ubiquitous and often misunderstood roles. Both full stack developers and DevOps engineers have become absolutely essential for building and running software effectively.
In this comprehensive guide, I‘ll break down exactly what these roles entail. I‘ll arm you with insider knowledge so you can make an informed decision about which career path may be the best fit for your skills and interests. I wish someone laid all this out for me earlier on!
Here‘s what I‘ll cover:
- Key responsibilities and must-have skills
- Salary ranges and hiring demand
- Work environment comparisons
- Pros and cons of each role
- Expert advice for charting your career
Let‘s dig in…
Full Stack Developer vs DevOps Engineer – Key Differences
First things first – we need to distinguish what makes these roles unique.
Full Stack Developer
A full stack developer is like a versatile artisan craftsman. They possess a broad set of coding skills to build slick user interfaces and robust backend logic. Full stack developers translate ideas and mockups into high-quality applications.
DevOps Engineer
A DevOps engineer is the behind-the-scenes orchestrator enabling seamless delivery of applications. They use infrastructure-as-code and automation to deploy software faster and more reliably. DevOps improves collaboration between developers pumping out code and sysadmins managing production.
While their day-to-day activities differ substantially, full stack developers and DevOps engineers share a common goal…
To rapidly deliver innovative applications that customers love. Agility is everything.
Next let‘s explore exactly what each role is responsible for day-to-day…
Key Responsibilities
Full Stack Developer
As a full stack developer, no two days look the same. Flexibility and thirst for learning is a must. On any given project, you may:
- Architect the data models and schema for an API
- Design a reactive single page app with React and Redux
- Containerize microservices with Docker for portability
- Optimize a MySQL database for high throughput
- Implement third party APIs like Twilio or Stripe
- Squash bugs reported from quality assurance tests
You name it across the entire stack – front-end, back-end, database, dev ops – full stack developers handle it all.
"I love toggling between coding animations for a slick client-facing interface and refactoring backend logic on the server," says Emma, a senior full stack developer. "Having involvement across the entire application architecture keeps things exciting."
DevOps Engineer
Meanwhile, as a DevOps engineer your responsibilities may include:
- Provisioning and managing infrastructure on AWS using Terraform
- Building out CI/CD pipelines for automatic testing and deployments
- Monitoring application performance metrics using Datadog
- Coding Python scripts to automate routine sysadmin tasks
- Managing Kubernetes clusters running containerized microservices
- Analyzing crashes and technical debt to improve system resilience
The expertise of DevOps engineers gives developers capacity to ship faster. Implementing infrastructure-as-code and robust CI/CD pipelines are examples of invaluable contributions of the DevOps role.
"After our DevOps practice matured, we were able to increase our release frequency by 400%," says Darshan, Director of Engineering at Acme Co. "Shipping high-quality updates multiple times per week is now the norm."
Must-Have Skills
Now that you understand the core responsibilities, let‘s look at the specialized skills needed to excel as a full stack developer versus a DevOps engineer.
Full Stack Developer Skills
Mastering a variety of programming languages and frameworks is essential for any aspiring full stack developer.
Here‘s a quick overview:
Frontend
- HTML, CSS, JavaScript
- React, Vue or Angular
- Responsive web design
Backend
- Object oriented languages like Java, Python, Ruby
- Node.js for server-side JavaScript
- MySQL, MongoDB and other databases
Don‘t forget mobile! Knowledge of iOS, Android and cross-platform frameworks like React Native is a huge bonus.
"We look for full stack developers that demonstrate experience coding across the latest web and mobile stacks," says CTO Diane Wilson. "Capacity to toggle between front-end and back-end work makes our engineers more versatile and independent."
DevOps Engineer Skills
Meanwhile, DevOps engineers come equipped with their own distinctive set of technical abilities:
Infrastructure Automation
- Terraform, Ansible, Chef, Puppet
- Docker containers, Kubernetes orchestration
- AWS CloudFormation
CI/CD Pipelines
- Jenkins, CircleCI, TravisCI, GitLab CI/CD
- Multi-stage deployments
- Infrastructure monitoring
Tools Mastery
- Linux, Nginx, system troubleshooting
- Scripting languages like Python, Bash, PowerShell
- Logging, metrics and tracing systems
Layer soft skills like collaboration, empathy and passion for continuous improvement on top and you‘ve got a stellar DevOps engineer.
Of course, don‘t be intimidated if you aren‘t familiar with these technologies yet. Focus first on the fundamentals like Linux, networking and coding. Specialized tools and job-specific experience can come later.
Career Demand and Salaries
Now for the good stuff – let‘s look at career trajectory and earning potential.
The reality is that demand for both full stack developers and DevOps engineers continues to accelerate exponentially. Tech companies big and small are scrambling to hire top talent across these functions.
"We‘ve hired over 200 full stack developers and nearly 100 DevOps engineers to support our rapid global expansion," says Recruiting Director Stephanie Thompson. "Competition for engineers with modern skillsets continues to intensify."
Let‘s examine the salaries and hiring demand for these roles across tech hubs:
Full Stack Developer
| City | Salary Range | Demand Trend |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $130,000 – $180,000 | 📈📈📈 |
| New York | $115,000 – $165,000 | 📈📈📈 |
| Austin | $95,000 – $140,000 | 📈📈 |
DevOps Engineer
| City | Salary Range | Demand Trend |
|---|---|---|
| San Francisco | $140,000 – $210,000 | 📈📈📈 |
| New York | $135,000 – $200,000 | 📈📈 |
| Denver | $120,000 – $150,000 | 📈📈 |
Salaries climb higher with specialized expertise, leadership roles, and bonuses/equity in top companies. But clearly – financial upside abounds in both domains!
Full Stack vs DevOps: How Should You Choose?
As you can see, both full stack developers and DevOps engineers are incredibly valuable. Well-rounded tech teams need practitioners that complement each other across the software lifecycle.
So which path is best aligned with your innate interests and aspirations?
Here‘s some key questions to ask yourself:
Full Stack Development
- Do you enjoy toggling between front-end programming and back-end systems?
- Does collaborating with designers and stakeholders excite you?
- Do you want to build directly customer-facing products and features?
DevOps Engineering
- Does infrastructure provisioning and reliability engineering appeal to you?
- Do you flourish automating processes through coding?
- Does supporting software developers in being highly productive motivate you?
Be honest with yourself about which activities ignite your passion. Listen to your instincts.
For me personally, watching my code deploy hands-free through CI/CD pipelines gives me immense satisfaction. I live for those moments an alert wakes me up at 3am, I SSH into the server, fix the metrics spike, and return to bed with a smile. Your mileage may vary!
Making Your Decision
As you decide which career direction excites you the most, consider speaking with practitioners in each role. Reach out over email or LinkedIn. People are very willing to share career stories and advice.
Here are some key questions to ask:
- What do you spend most of your time working on day-to-day?
- What part of your job responsibilities do you find most fulfilling?
- What background and early experiences best prepared you?
- What learning and growth opportunities lie ahead?
Connect these conversations to your personal interests and strengths.
For example, if you love designing interfaces, enjoy client interactions, and have artistic flair – full stack development may click. If you thrive on technical operations support, take pride automating tasks, and have strong sysadmin chops – DevOps could be your calling.
Ultimately you can‘t go wrong specializing in either direction. Both pathways lead to no shortage of impactful career opportunities.
The project you ship or outage you heroically prevent can directly accelerate your organization‘s success. And that‘s incredibly empowering.
Making Your Next Move
Alright, say you‘ve done the introspection and are fired up about charting your new career course ahead. What practical steps should you take to land your first full stack or DevOps gig?
Here is my actionable advice:
Ramp Up Relevant Skills
-
Full stack – Build personal projects leveraging popular frameworks like React, NodeJS, and MongoDB. Highlight these on your resume and GitHub.
-
DevOps – Experiment with infrastructure-as-code platforms like Terraform for AWS. Script routine tasks with Python. Contribute to open source DevOps tools on GitHub.
These efforts demonstrate practical experience that impresses hiring managers even pre-entry level.
Seek Out Entry Points
Many companies offer apprenticeship programs focused specifically on launching full stack or DevOps careers. These programs understand you have potential even if you don‘t check every box. Leverage them!
Also consider junior roles willing to train driven candidates that demonstrate foundational skills.
"We hire folks with 3 years experience looking to transition into DevOps all the time," says Mahesh, VP Engineering at Accel. "Capacity to learn quickly paired with some existing scripting or sysadmin skills makes them the perfect fit."
Expand Your Professional Network
Attend local tech Meetups and conferences. Follow prominent engineers and thought leaders on Twitter. Establish yourself on LinkedIn as an aspiring full stack developer or DevOps practitioner.
Gradually expanding your professional network reinforces to the community that you are actively working towards landing your first role. And surfaces leads and referrals in the process.
——
The technology landscape continues to rapidly evolve. Yet the need for skilled full stack and DevOps talent outpaces supply. Seize this tremendous career opportunity in front of you. I‘m excited for your journey ahead!
Now over to you my friend…how can I help you take the next step?
All the best,
John
