Career Transition Guide

# IT Support vs. Full Stack Developer: Salaries & How to Switch Careers

If you are currently working in IT Support, BPO, or Server Maintenance in Bangalore, you already know the frustration. The night shifts are exhausting, the tickets are repetitive, and the salary appraisals barely cover Bangalore's rising rent.

Many support professionals ask us: "Is a full stack developer an IT job, too?" Yes, it is the core of Information Technology, but it exists on a completely different planet when it comes to respect, work-life balance, and compensation.

Today, we are going to break down exactly what is L1, L2, and L3 support salary, compare it to the massive earning potential of a Full Stack Developer, and give you the exact roadmap to escape the support desk without quitting your day job.

## 1. The Salary Ceiling in IT Support

In the tech industry, departments are categorized as either "Cost Centers" or "Revenue Generators." IT Support is viewed as a Cost Center—it costs the company money to fix broken things. Because of this, salaries hit a hard ceiling very quickly.

#### L1 (Helpdesk)

₹2.5L - ₹4L

Basic troubleshooting, password resets, ticket routing.

#### L2 (App Support)

₹4L - ₹7L

Database queries, advanced software configuration.

#### L3 (Senior Support)

₹7L - ₹12L

Infrastructure, server health, vendor escalation.

The Trap: Even if you work in IT support for 10 years, it is incredibly difficult to push past that ₹12-14 LPA mark because the fundamental value of the role doesn't scale.

## 2. Product Engineering: The Revenue Generators

Now let's answer: what is a full stack salary? Full Stack Developers build the actual applications that users pay for. They are Revenue Generators. Because their code scales to millions of users, their salaries scale with it.

The Upgrade

- ▶
  L1 Full Stack Fresher (0-2 Yrs): ₹4L - ₹8L

  You start your career matching the salary of a mid-level IT Support engineer.

- ▶
  L2 Mid-Level Developer (2-5 Yrs): ₹12L - ₹22L

  Within just a few years, your salary completely eclipses the absolute maximum ceiling of an L3 Senior Support Engineer.

- ▶
  L3 Senior Developer (5+ Yrs): ₹25L - ₹45L+

  You reach financial freedom, commanding salaries only executives make in non-tech industries.

## 3. How to Make the Switch (Without Quitting Your Day Job)

The biggest fear support engineers have is time. You can't just quit your job to study full-time. The good news is, you already have an advantage over non-IT freshers: you understand how tech environments, servers, and deployments work. You just need to learn how to write the code.

1. 1

   Join a Weekend/Hybrid Cohort: Don't try to self-teach after an exhausting 9-hour shift. Join a structured hybrid program designed for working professionals that holds you accountable.

2. 2

   Master the MERN Stack: Don't waste time on older legacy languages. Learn MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js. This is what Bangalore startups are hiring for immediately.

3. 3

   Build an Internal Tool Portfolio: Use your current job to your advantage. Build a small automated React app that solves a problem for your current support team. Put that on your resume.