Germany is a major player in Europe’s tech landscape. The country is home the continent’s third and fourth largest tech hubs, Berlin and Munich. This makes it one of the best countries for software developers, including full stack developers. Here, we’ll take a look at average full stack developer salaries at each stage of their careers.
Average entry-level and junior full stack developer salary
The average salary for a full stack developer in Germany starts at €34 942 per year for developers with fewer than two years of experience.
At this stage of their careers, entry-level full stack developers in Germany earn 4.5% less than front end developers with comparable experience.
Once they’ve gained two years of professional experience, they receive the most significant salary increase of their careers at 44.7% which gives them an average annual salary of €50 556.
By this stage of their careers, they’ve overtaken their front end counterparts and now earn 11.2% more.
Once they pass the four-year mark, salary growth for mid-level full stack developers slows to 14.6%, giving them an average salary of €57 956. Despite this slow down, they’ve extended their advantage over mid-level front end developers to 17%.
Average senior full stack developer salary
Salary growth for full stack developers in Germany continues to slow down further once they become seniors.
Senior full stack developers with six to ten years of experience can expect a modest 1.7% pay bump for an average annual salary of €58 956. As a result, the gap between full stack and front end developers has narrowed to 1.1%.
However, once they pass the ten-year mark, senior full stack developers can look forward to a 16.2% pay rise.
This gives senior full stack developers with ten to fifteen years of professional experience an average salary of €68 526, 2% more than their front end counterparts.
Average Full Stack Developer Salaries by Experience
Average Salary by Years Experience, showing 25th and 75th percentiles
| Years of Experience | 25th Percentile | Average | 75th Percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0-2 | €25,200 | €34,942 | €48,000 |
| 2-4 | €27,300 | €50,556 | €56,125 |
| 4-6 | €40,920 | €57,956 | €62,750 |
| 6-10 | €46,150 | €58,956 | €70,000 |
| 10-15 | €50,700 | €68,526 | €82,750 |
Keep in mind
The data in this article is taken from StackOverflow’s 2022 Developer Survey’s open data. In this article, ‘salary’ refers to the gross annual salary (before tax) provided by 654 survey respondents from Germany who identified as full stack developers.
We only included salary insights for experience levels with enough data points to ensure that the amounts represent full stack developers in the country. That’s why we excluded salaries for developers with more than fifteen years of experience in this article.
We also ran an outlier analysis to identify data points skewing the distribution of salaries. These points were removed from the final dataset to ensure that the amounts are representative of full stack developers in Germany. We’ve also included the 25th and 75th percentiles to give you further information about the distribution of salary data.
Average salaries are single data points and only one part of a bigger story. Many respondents may earn significantly more or significantly less than these averages. However, we hope to show underlying trends by mapping the average salaries for different experience levels.
These averages should not be used to estimate what your actual salary will or should be. Salaries depend on the company size, industry, individual, perks and nature of the work. These factors all influence the salary a company will offer to a prospective hire. In addition, most developers are “fluent” in several languages and work across multiple roles, which affects the final figures.
It’s also important to remember that every individual’s context is different. Salary is a personal conversation that should take place between employee and employer.
On OfferZen you can hire full stack developers and find full stack developer jobs.
Related resources
- How to Negotiate a Job Offer That's More Than Just the Money
- How to Negotiate when Hiring Developers
- Full Stack Developer Salary Trends in the Netherlands
- Munich: City Guide for Software Developers
- Securing a Developer Work Visa for Germany: The Blue Card
- Berlin: City Guide for Software Developers
- Front End Developer Salary Trends in Germany