Never heard the full stack term in early '00s, but I was very very junior so it might be me, anyway I'm pretty sure that nowadays "full stack" has a specific meaning (basically only related to web development) and that it was different back in the day

Is the definition today something beyond “can work client, web front end, web back end, infrastructure, and database”? Because that’s how I thought of it then and that’s my understanding of it still.

kinda agree, AFAIK full stack term became mainstream when front and back got closer due to ajax, maybe it was already used in the days of LAMP which was a `whole stack` too

I didn't start working that early but still find it hard to define because these days "full stack" is someone who can write frontend and backend web apps – but on my first few jobs "full stack" was anything from writing javascript for the web to setting up or troubleshooting a server, or debugging a SQL query plan

I think the best description is "give me a piece of tech and I can probably figure it out"

Full stack back in '00 was typically LAMP. Linux, Apache (httpd), MySQL, and Perl, Python, or Php.

As a full stack developer, you were expected to be able to do system administration for Linux, setup and configure Apache httpd server, work with MySQL (create tables, know SQL), and work in a language that typically started with 'P'. The way that CGIs (and Php) worked implied that you did front end and backend work as necessary... though front end didn't have the same degree of complexity that it does now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)

What you are describing is not full stack, it's backend development.

Full-stack adds the front-end, and that's why you won't find js devs that can configure nginx, because they've been surfing on that "full" part of "full-stack" for years but it really just means you can do node and JS.

Back in lamp stack days, also involved front end development - though that was before even jQuery.

Writing the page to do front end navigation was part of the expectations of the fulls tack developer. They may not be a web designer, but the "ok, this is what the designer wants the page to look like - here's the HTML that I need to write to realize this" was part of writing the perl (in my case) CGI to make it spit out the proper html in the proper spot... and you really can't do most php without doing front end development as an integral part of it.

The definition of full stack has changed over the years as the stacks have changed and more emphasis is on the front end as front end libraries and frameworks have evolved to take more of the heavy lifting for presentation.

Going to echo Shagie. Even early 2010's full stack was WAMP, MAMP, LAMP stacks + HTML/CSS/JQuery. Or .net/webforms, java, etc.

he is probably wondering if maybe his tech is some out of fashion one so that could be the reason for difficulties in getting interviews