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Content specialist vs content developer

The differences between content specialists and content developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a content specialist, becoming a content developer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a content developer has an average salary of $72,030, which is higher than the $66,018 average annual salary of a content specialist.

The top three skills for a content specialist include customer service, digital marketing and wordpress. The most important skills for a content developer are content development, digital marketing, and subject matter experts.

Content specialist vs content developer overview

Content SpecialistContent Developer
Yearly salary$66,018$72,030
Hourly rate$31.74$34.63
Growth rate19%13%
Number of jobs40,34682,250
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Average age3737
Years of experience64

What does a content specialist do?

A content specialist's role is to create strategies in developing captivating and engaging content to boost brand awareness and interest in a company. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting research and analysis of marketing conditions to identify new opportunities, keeping abreast of the latest trends, producing presentations and progress reports, and creating content through various mediums such as social media and print materials. Furthermore, it is essential to coordinate with managers and other content creators, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.

What does a content developer do?

A content developer is responsible for creating digital content, designing technical deliverables, and developing content strategies by analyzing current market trends to attract clients, driving more revenues, and increasing the company's profitability. Content developers also manage the distribution of the contents, following the clients' specifications or the business requirements. They also coordinate with other project teams to ensure the effectiveness and accuracy of the contents, focusing on its appeal to the target audience. A content developer must have a keen eye for details, especially on doing quality content checks before publishing.

Content specialist vs content developer salary

Content specialists and content developers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Content SpecialistContent Developer
Average salary$66,018$72,030
Salary rangeBetween $52,000 And $83,000Between $51,000 And $101,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best paying companyMetaGoogle
Best paying industryHealth CareInternet

Differences between content specialist and content developer education

There are a few differences between a content specialist and a content developer in terms of educational background:

Content SpecialistContent Developer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 76%Bachelor's Degree, 72%
Most common majorCommunicationEnglish
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaMassachusetts Institute of Technology

Content specialist vs content developer demographics

Here are the differences between content specialists' and content developers' demographics:

Content SpecialistContent Developer
Average age3737
Gender ratioMale, 43.0% Female, 57.0%Male, 51.3% Female, 48.7%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 11.0% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 7.0% Unknown, 6.7% Hispanic or Latino, 13.1% Asian, 12.9% White, 59.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage10%9%

Differences between content specialist and content developer duties and responsibilities

Content specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage premium partner's Youtube channels (e.g.
  • Manage the manual migration of content from the previous site to the new Drupal CMS.
  • Lead the implementation of a web solution providing easy, fast data search and data visualization capabilities to users.
  • supply original content, manage instagram account, and work promotional events for this e-magazine focuse on health and fitness motivation.
  • Synthesize render documents using HTML, CSS, and XML in the proprietary web base application.
  • Optimize blog posts for SEO in the WordPress platform by adding images, captions, meta descriptions and more.
  • Show more

Content developer example responsibilities.

  • Develop scripts to automate operations and optimize web performance (jQuery).
  • Manage, design, and create new HTML help look and feel that provide cost-effective ways to reuse content.
  • Analyze, plan, develop, QA, and deliver training courses for instructor lead training and web base training.
  • Manage social media marketing, including Instagram
  • Design a mobile-first responsive layout compliant with HTML5 and CSS3 standards.
  • Develop jQuery plugins, config files, Javascript files and CSS files.
  • Show more

Content specialist vs content developer skills

Common content specialist skills
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Digital Marketing, 6%
  • WordPress, 5%
  • Web Content, 4%
  • Content Strategy, 4%
  • Content Development, 4%
Common content developer skills
  • Content Development, 10%
  • Digital Marketing, 8%
  • Subject Matter Experts, 5%
  • Digital Content, 5%
  • Project Management, 5%
  • PowerPoint, 4%

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