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The differences between computational biologists and biomedical engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-8 years to become a computational biologist, becoming a biomedical engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a biomedical engineer has an average salary of $79,436, which is higher than the $61,449 average annual salary of a computational biologist.
The top three skills for a computational biologist include python, machine learning and next-generation sequencing. The most important skills for a biomedical engineer are patients, medical devices, and biomedical equipment.
| Computational Biologist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $61,449 | $79,436 |
| Hourly rate | $29.54 | $38.19 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 12,839 | 33,662 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 2 |
A computational biologist is an expert in computational management, high-performance computing, data algorithm, and biological and statistical processes. You study to understand biological systems using computational theoretical principles. Your duties typically include doing research and computer programming, developing a theory, mathematical models, and computer simulations to organize and analyze your findings, and building databases. To become a successful computational biologist, you must have extensive knowledge of bioinformatics, biochemistry, and computational biology, excellent communication skills, and problem-solving skills.
As a biomedical engineer, it's their main job responsibility to innovate advances that can improve human health care in all aspects. They analyze and create solutions to certain problems with biology and medicine to improve the effectiveness and quality of patient care. They also do complex tasks that include installing, repairing, maintaining, or providing technical support for biomedical equipment. Moreover, checking safety evaluation, efficiency, and effectiveness of biomedical equipment is also part of their job responsibilities.
Computational biologists and biomedical engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Computational Biologist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Average salary | $61,449 | $79,436 |
| Salary range | Between $38,000 And $99,000 | Between $57,000 And $108,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | California |
| Best paying company | Cornerstone Research | |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a computational biologist and a biomedical engineer in terms of educational background:
| Computational Biologist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Biology | Biomedical Engineering |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between computational biologists' and biomedical engineers' demographics:
| Computational Biologist | Biomedical Engineer | |
| Average age | 40 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 80.2% Female, 19.8% | Male, 75.0% Female, 25.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 17.0% White, 67.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 20.1% White, 58.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 13% |