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The differences between application development directors and information technology managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an application development director and an information technology manager. Additionally, an application development director has an average salary of $151,898, which is higher than the $119,589 average annual salary of an information technology manager.
The top three skills for an application development director include application development, architecture and java. The most important skills for an information technology manager are customer service, project management, and database.
| Application Development Director | Information Technology Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $151,898 | $119,589 |
| Hourly rate | $73.03 | $57.49 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 100,053 | 108,179 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
The applications development director focuses on ensuring the smooth and productive development process of strategies and applications used in a company. The development director manages a team of developers who will improve, upgrade, and, if needed, replace existing systems and applications currently used in the company. The development director's role is essential for continuing the company's productivity, which is why this position is only open for people with relevant experience in application development and managerial skills. A development director's added tasks are to work with all related departments in the company, collate their application needs, and integrate those inputs to come up with an application that resolves all company problems.
An information technology manager is responsible for supervising tasks for the company's network and information systems operations. Information technology managers require excellent knowledge of the information systems industry, a strong command of programming languages, and software and hardware application processes. An information technology manager reviews the performance of the IT department staff, ensuring that networks and systems maintain the highest quality and efficiency, and adjusting the specific system updates as needed. Information technology managers monitor the security of the system's database and identify business opportunities to utilize all business systems to improve the company's services.
Application development directors and information technology managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Application Development Director | Information Technology Manager | |
| Average salary | $151,898 | $119,589 |
| Salary range | Between $116,000 And $198,000 | Between $84,000 And $169,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | ServiceNow | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | - |
There are a few differences between an application development director and an information technology manager in terms of educational background:
| Application Development Director | Information Technology Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between application development directors' and information technology managers' demographics:
| Application Development Director | Information Technology Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.0% Female, 16.0% | Male, 84.5% Female, 15.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 13.4% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 6.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.9% Asian, 12.7% White, 65.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |