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The differences between customer engineers and software engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a customer engineer, becoming a software engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a customer engineer has an average salary of $101,212, which is higher than the $100,260 average annual salary of a software engineer.
The top three skills for a customer engineer include customer service, technical problems and level agreements. The most important skills for a software engineer are java, python, and software development.
| Customer Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $101,212 | $100,260 |
| Hourly rate | $48.66 | $48.20 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 44,709 | 339,938 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 45 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A customer engineer provides technical support to organizations having issues with their products or services. Duties and responsibilities may vary depending on the sector, but generally include diagnosing and troubleshooting technical problems with products, performing tests, upgrades and diagnostics to prevent delay or downtime caused by-product issues, and keeping updated reports outlining the problems and measures taken to resolve them. A customer engineer is also responsible for discussing service contracts and their benefits with clients.
A software engineer is a computer science professional who is responsible for the development of information systems, designing and building computer systems software and applications software. They often prefer to call themselves as a software developer or computer programmer. They have substantial knowledge of programming languages, software development, and computer operating systems, and other technologies. They use these to turn a plan into a final output. They can create a design, test, and develop software based on the needs of their clients.
Customer engineers and software engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average salary | $101,212 | $100,260 |
| Salary range | Between $77,000 And $131,000 | Between $73,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a customer engineer and a software engineer in terms of educational background:
| Customer Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between customer engineers' and software engineers' demographics:
| Customer Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.4% Female, 9.6% | Male, 78.0% Female, 22.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.1% Asian, 34.0% White, 48.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 8% |