Career spotlights
AWS Full Stack Developer
How much do Developers make?
* Survey responses in the remainder of this chapter are indicative only due to a limited number of Full Stack Developers participating in the survey.
of Full Stack Developers are satisfied with their job, down from 87% in our last study
of Full Stack Developers are satisfied with their salary, down from 54% in our last survey
Hours
Permanent Full Stack Developers work an average of 41 hours per week
Hours
Freelance Full Stack Developers work an average of 33 hours per week
What factors impact your earning potential as a Full Stack Developer?
We asked current AWS professionals the factors they felt were most important in upping your earning potential in that role.
| Important | Neutral | Unimportant | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Years of experience in IT | 92% | 6% | 2% |
| Years of technical experience with AWS | 88% | 8% | 4% |
| Exposure to large projects | 87% | 10% | 2% |
| Specific vertical industry experience | 63% | 28% | 9% |
| AWS certifications | 57% | 23% | 21% |
| Working with AI | 52% | 32% | 16% |
| College/University degree(s) | 37% | 31% | 32% |
What factors impact your earning potential as a Full Stack Developer?
| % | |
|---|---|
| Years of experience in IT | 92% |
| Years of technical experience with AWS | 88% |
| Exposure to large projects | 87% |
| Specific vertical industry experience | 63% |
| AWS certifications | 57% |
| Working with AI | 52% |
| College/University degree(s) | 37% |
| % | |
|---|---|
| Years of experience in IT | 6% |
| Years of technical experience with AWS | 8% |
| Exposure to large projects | 10% |
| Specific vertical industry experience | 28% |
| AWS certifications | 23% |
| Working with AI | 32% |
| College/University degree(s) | 31% |
| % | |
|---|---|
| Years of experience in IT | 2% |
| Years of technical experience with AWS | 4% |
| Exposure to large projects | 2% |
| Specific vertical industry experience | 9% |
| AWS certifications | 21% |
| Working with AI | 16% |
| College/University degree(s) | 32% |
What steps should you take to become a Full Stack Developer
Education
An obvious starting point for what you may need is qualifications, and 86% of Full Stack Developers hold at least a Bachelor’s degree. However, only 55% consider a degree to be an essential factor when it comes to increasing earning potential, and even less (33%) consider that a degree is needed to work with AWS.
Certification
AWS certifications are one of the best routes to training and upskilling there is. They don’t just equip you with the skills you need, but they also provide vendor-accredited validation of your knowledge too—making them a win for you, as well as those employing (or looking to employ) you as well.
Under half (45%, down from 52% in our last survey) of Full Stack Developers are certified. Still, only 20% of those have undergone recertification to maintain their AWS Certified Status, and 60% of certified respondents believe that certifications help candidates stand out in a competitive job market.
Roles that can lead on to becoming a Full Stack Developer
There’s no one single route that an AWS professional needs to take in order to become a Full Stack Developer, but some of the most common roles we see candidates starting their career in include:
- Junior Software Developer
- Junior Software Engineer
- Web Developer
- Back-end Developer
- Front-end Developer
What skills and experience should Full Stack Developers have?
- Good understanding of front-end languages and frameworks including JavasScript, HTML and CSS
- In-depth knowledge of back-end technologies and frameworks including NodeJS and ExpressJS
- Confidence in database management systems including SQL, MongoDB, Oracle, and SQLServer
- Experience deploying on web hosting platforms
- Hands-on experience with HTML5 and GitHub
- Comfortable with container technologies like Docker and Kubernetes
- Ability to build interactive user interfaces and robust backend architecture
- Proficiency in programming languages including Java, PHP, Python, Ruby, or .Net
- Working knowledge of technologies and practices like application security, microservices, testing, and serverless
- Practical understanding of AWS infrastructure and service fundamentals
What are the opportunities for progression for a Full Stack Developer?
Full Stack Developer
Senior Full Stack Developer
Lead Developer
Architect
Development Manager / Product Manager
Enterprise Architect
Are you looking to hire an AWS professional?
Are you a job seeker?
Careers and Hiring Guide
AWS Edition 2025
Key Findings
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables to allow you to compare your compensation or benchmark your teams’ salaries or rates no matter their role in the AWS ecosystem.
