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Consultant-user experience vs software developer

The differences between consultants-user experience and software 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-user experience and a software developer. Additionally, a consultant-user experience has an average salary of $89,602, which is higher than the $87,521 average annual salary of a software developer.

The top three skills for a consultant-user experience include UI, wireframes and user research. The most important skills for a software developer are java, python, and C++.

Consultant-user experience vs software developer overview

Consultant-User ExperienceSoftware Developer
Yearly salary$89,602$87,521
Hourly rate$43.08$42.08
Growth rate10%21%
Number of jobs24,606294,329
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 55%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age4239
Years of experience44

What does a consultant-user experience do?

A User Experience Consultant focuses on ensuring customers are satisfied with the company's product or service. User experience is essential in developing products and services that companies lose due to slight user experience and satisfaction problems. The user-experience consultant works on gathering feedback from customers, analyzing this feedback, and drawing conclusions, suggestions, and recommendations on improving the product or service.

What does a software developer do?

A software developer is responsible for designing application systems to support the user and business' needs. Duties of a software developer include testing software codes, performing diagnostic programs and troubleshooting, interpreting system data and establishing efficient parameters, and ensuring the compatibility of the systems. A software developer must have an excellent knowledge of computer programs and programming languages to understand its complexities, especially on detecting system defects and malfunctions. A software developer must have strong attention to detail, communication, and decision-making skills to coordinate with the team and also work independently under minimal supervision.

Consultant-user experience vs software developer salary

Consultants-user experience and software developers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Consultant-User ExperienceSoftware Developer
Average salary$89,602$87,521
Salary rangeBetween $54,000 And $147,000Between $67,000 And $113,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best paying companyGoogleThe Citadel
Best paying industryManufacturingFinance

Differences between consultant-user experience and software developer education

There are a few differences between a consultant-user experience and a software developer in terms of educational background:

Consultant-User ExperienceSoftware Developer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 55%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorBusinessComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityHarvard University

Consultant-user experience vs software developer demographics

Here are the differences between consultants-user experience' and software developers' demographics:

Consultant-User ExperienceSoftware Developer
Average age4239
Gender ratioMale, 64.9% Female, 35.1%Male, 79.3% Female, 20.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 13.2% White, 67.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.2% Asian, 29.9% White, 52.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage4%8%

Differences between consultant-user experience and software developer duties and responsibilities

Consultant-user experience example responsibilities.

  • Manage few mobile iPhone App projects on iOS6 and iOS7, some of which seamlessly complement desktop applications.
  • Work on another project to develop a portal web application for internal organization using JavaScript and HTML.
  • Sketch -prioritize features using MoSCoW method.
  • Invent process for prototyping for 3d.
  • Convert designs to HTML format for e-mail distribution.
  • Create usability approach, flow diagrams and Axure prototype for client and production dashboard.
  • Show more

Software developer example responsibilities.

  • Restructure the project code in repository and use maven to manage project dependencies.
  • Used JIRA to manage and track the issues report by QA and prioritize and take action base on the severity.
  • Develop the front-end web page by using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript, taking advantage of the frameworks Angular.JS.
  • Lead team and develop UNIX administrative and maintenance development tasks, supporting customer requirements.
  • Configure custom PL/SQL database to manage new database objects including triggers, user-define functions and store procedures.
  • Implement a centralize configuration system for managing application settings, consisting of a desktop application with a WCF backend.
  • Show more

Consultant-user experience vs software developer skills

Common consultant-user experience skills
  • UI, 10%
  • Wireframes, 6%
  • User Research, 6%
  • Sketch, 4%
  • Trouble Shoot Issues, 4%
  • JavaScript, 4%
Common software developer skills
  • Java, 11%
  • Python, 9%
  • C++, 7%
  • Software Development, 6%
  • JavaScript, 5%
  • Database, 5%

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