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'Full Stack Software Developer' Named Fastest-Growing Job of 2018

The fastest-growing job in the United States this year was full stack software developer, according to a new report.

A data analysis conducted by compensation specialist PayScale for publication on the CNBC Make It media site also finds other development-related and tech jobs dominating the 25 fastest-growing U.S. jobs. The report reinforces numerous other findings that pointed to a sweet spot for developers in today's economy, where an appetite for enterprise apps is not being met by the supply of available professional developers.

"Of the 25 fastest growing jobs, 12 were computer or mathematics-based occupations, with mobile developers, software developers and graphic designers seeing the biggest hiring increases, as compared to the growth of the average job in the U.S," CNBC said.

The report says the job of full stack software developer experienced the highest growth score, 6.15, which is a measurement of how many more times a role was hired for this year as compared to the average job in the U.S. While that job experienced the fastest growth, its median salary of $77,900 is not even close to some other jobs, such as the top-grossing position of data science manager, at a median salary of $147,000 and a growth score of 1.58.

In this report, senior mobile developer, a position that has been described as the best job in America in other reports, came in at No. 5, with a median salary of $110,000 and growth rate of 2.09.

Looking to the future, PayScale predicts more of the same tech success for 2019. "Once again, tech looks to be the key field with roles handling Big Data, cyber security, cloud computing and artificial intelligence expected to grow the most," CNBC said.

Job Median Salary Growth Rate
Full stack software developer $77,900 6.15
Director of community engagement $61,500 3.16
Lead graphic designer $47,900 2.52
Manager, customer success team $93,000 2.28
Senior mobile developer $110,000 2.09
Employee engagement manager $70,000 2.07
Computer vision engineer $113,000 1.98
Business intelligence engineer $94,300 1.72
Machine learning engineer $118,000 1.7
Population health manager $75,700 1.69
Commercial truck driver $48,100 1.69
Senior data engineer $132,000 1.68
Site reliability engineer $124,000 1.66
Project management office manager $123,000 1.6
Data science manager $147,000 1.58
Global mobility specialist $69,600 1.56
Content director $87,000 1.52
Salesforce consultant $85,300 1.49
Senior product designer $121,000 1.48
Wound, ostomy, and continence nurse $76,700 1.45
Digital marketing coordinator $44,600 1.44
Cyber security analyst $75,100 1.44
Cloud solutions architect $125,000 1.41
Cyber security engineer $92,600 1.39
Motion graphic designer $57,200 1.37

To compile the report, PayScale reviewed its crowdsourced database to determine which jobs experienced the biggest surge in popularity in 2018, identifying jobs that were both sought after by employers and experiencing growth in workers claiming a position.

About the Author

David Ramel is an editor and writer for Converge360.