For what it's worth, a counterpoint from an ex-kernel maintainer who now does web stuff and distributed systems: kernel programming was usually easier for me th

For what it's worth, a counterpoint from an ex-kernel maintainer who now does web stuff and distributed systems: kernel programming was usually easier for me than your standard full-stack web developer stuff. The API surface of a web stack is so large -- juggling things like a JS framework, CSS, nuances of HTTP sessions, web security, databases, load balancers, etc. Most single-machine kernel bugs are going to be easier to figure out, once you learn some kernel APIs, of which there aren't so many.