Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between development 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 development engineer, becoming a software engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a software engineer has an average salary of $100,260, which is higher than the $93,206 average annual salary of a development engineer.
The top three skills for a development engineer include java, python and software development. The most important skills for a software engineer are java, python, and software development.
| Development Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $93,206 | $100,260 |
| Hourly rate | $44.81 | $48.20 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 224,881 | 339,938 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A Development Engineer is responsible for the development and validation of products, systems, and components. They are also responsible for quality control of work and continuous improvement of engineer activities.
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.
Development engineers and software engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Development Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average salary | $93,206 | $100,260 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $122,000 | Between $73,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a development engineer and a software engineer in terms of educational background:
| Development Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between development engineers' and software engineers' demographics:
| Development Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.5% Female, 14.5% | Male, 78.0% Female, 22.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.7% White, 67.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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 | 5% | 8% |