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A full-stack engineer is an I.T. engineer that is knowledgeable in all fields concerning the conception, development and deployment of software projects and especially web projects (As opposed to a front-end engineer, back-end engineer or systems engineer). A good definition can be found here

I have been trying to translate this word into french, but I can't find the right translation for the word stack, as in application stack.

(This might be a little too technical, I have never been on this SE website before, so apologies in advance if it is!)

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    The usual french term for stack in computer science is pile. This is the first time I encounter the term full-stack with that usage. A quick search on Google reveals that job offerings don't bother and use the Full-Stack term directly: Ingénieur Full-Stack, Développeur Full-Stack, Lead-Développeur Full-Stack.
    – user757
    Jan 23, 2014 at 20:51
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    That's what I've settled with for now. I'm guessing a direct translation that conveys the same meaning would be "ingénieur toutes couches", but there's no way I'm writing that in an official document :D
    – Gabriel S.
    Jan 23, 2014 at 21:59
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    I agree that Ingénieur toutes couches is a bit... smelly. :P
    – user757
    Jan 23, 2014 at 22:03
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    multi-couches maybe ? Doesn't convey the meaning of all but I guess it won't be a matter here. As a side note, I'm afraid I can't do a thing about your smelly mind association ^^
    – Romain Valeri
    Jan 24, 2014 at 10:50
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    What about the common "Ingénieur Concepteur Développeur (ICD)" aren't they full-stack by definition?
    – MaxSC
    Jan 24, 2014 at 12:36

3 Answers 3

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Note that the referenced Full Stack Developer definition simply describes a software developer mastering current & fashionable web technologies.
A developer is not necessarily an engineer, not necessarily an architect.
Therefore, I would simply translate as "développeur technologies web".
If the job requires it, use "ingénieur confirmé technologies web" or even "ingénieur technologies web très confirmé".

In any case, "Full Stack Developer" is just a buzzword. You can as well translate it as "développeur Full Stack", everybody will recognize the buzzword...

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  • In this case, what is the word "confirmé" referring to? Even as a native french speaker I'm not sure. Does it mean that you are a member of the "Order of Engineers" or any other official organisation that certifies you as an engineer? Or perhaps it means that you have a lot of experience? As you pointed out, I would also recommend that people who are not ngeneers (like me) don't call themselves as such and use "développeur" instead on "ingénieur".
    – Gaboik1
    May 30, 2018 at 17:13
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A couple of ideas:

  • ingénieur généraliste
  • ingénieur polyvalent
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  • The only problem with this translation is that it implies that the engineer is knowledgeable in all engineering fields whereas a full-stack engineer is knowledgeable only in the IT field, not in physics or say, thermonuclear reactors!
    – Gabriel S.
    Jan 30, 2014 at 15:18
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    But we could say "ingénieur informaticien polyvalent". Although it sounds kinda cheap it conveys the same meaning.
    – Gabriel S.
    Jan 30, 2014 at 15:19
  • ingénieur web généraliste?
    – Shawn
    Jun 15, 2020 at 4:00
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You may want to see the "stack" in french as a "cycle" because in software development if you traverse the full stack you actually made a cycle in the development or running of the project (especially if you work with iterations).

So I was thinking of something like

  • Ingénieur cycle complet
  • Ingénieur cycle de vie complet

but that doesn't "sounds good" in french.

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    I wouldn't really translate it as "cycle". A stack is the set of technology layers that a software product is made out of. Full stack means you have sufficient skill to work with all these technologies. There is no notion of temporality (unlike in lifecycle) about a stack, it's a static range of layers.
    – guillaume31
    Jan 26, 2015 at 12:51
  • @guillaume31 you are right and I was aware of it when posting. But I never heard about "ingénieur pile complete" in french. So, IMHO, the notion of the complet stack was described fairly enough by the word "cycle". I'm curious about how correctly translating it in french.
    – Koresh
    Jan 26, 2015 at 13:05
  • Like many technical terms in IT, the word has been picked up and used as is, it's probably too late for a french translation now ;)
    – guillaume31
    Jan 26, 2015 at 16:05

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