Hacker News Reader

When I hear the term "Full Stack" or someone working as a "Full Stack Engineer" all I can think is someone who can hack its way through the full development stack when need be in a multitier architecture. I sometimes joke around that when a company says they need a "Full Stack Engineer", they mean they want a "Software Architect" without the title,authority and a higher salary.

View on HN

The full stack applicant only needs to know a slightly wider view than what the interviewer knows, which in situations with job ads full of stereotypes and cliches isn't very much. If the ad asks for a rock star ninja full stack expert, make an arduino blink a led, draw a pix of your cat in cubist style, bring both to the interview, its all good. In those situations its usually WAY more important to have gone to the same school, and match demographically.

I wouldn't call it a joke, at least in the insular world of SV VC webapp companies. I view "full stack" as a phrase the same way I view "we want someone whose passion is programming": they're both indicators the company is looking for people to exploit and pay poorly for the amount of labor expected.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com