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The differences between consultants-application development and contract developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a consultant-application development and a contract developer. Additionally, a consultant-application development has an average salary of $111,633, which is higher than the $91,433 average annual salary of a contract developer.
The top three skills for a consultant-application development include java, application development and architecture. The most important skills for a contract developer are C++, javascript, and java.
| Consultant-Application Development | Contract Developer | |
| Yearly salary | $111,633 | $91,433 |
| Hourly rate | $53.67 | $43.96 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 282,808 | 249,808 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Application development consultants write software systems designed for specific tasks. To work in this position, they must have expertise in programming and information technology and strong interpersonal skills to be an effective mentor to junior app developers. Before working on a project, they familiarize themselves with their company's computer system to make working on different processes easier. Since no program is ever made perfect, these consultants anticipate possible issues that users may encounter and create solutions for them.
Contract Developers develop secure web applications for data collections, quality measurement efforts, and reporting purposes for large-scale performance, wireframes and UI specifications for interactive and static reporting and analysis features, and developing UI to interact with reporting engines. They are involved with system design and technical documentation and responsible for dot net development. In this position, contract developers must excellent in problem-solving, analytical skills and attention to detail, display and manipulate performance metrics, and highly confident dealing with internal and external clients.
Consultants-application development and contract developers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Consultant-Application Development | Contract Developer | |
| Average salary | $111,633 | $91,433 |
| Salary range | Between $88,000 And $141,000 | Between $67,000 And $123,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | CME Group | Avanade |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a consultant-application development and a contract developer in terms of educational background:
| Consultant-Application Development | Contract Developer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between consultants-application development' and contract developers' demographics:
| Consultant-Application Development | Contract Developer | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 78.7% Female, 21.3% | Male, 71.5% Female, 28.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 27.8% White, 54.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |