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The differences between economic developers and program developers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a program developer has an average salary of $74,749, which is higher than the $51,285 average annual salary of an economic developer.
The top three skills for an economic developer include data entry, financial statements and business community. The most important skills for a program developer are development programs, community outreach, and project management.
| Economic Developer | Program Developer | |
| Yearly salary | $51,285 | $74,749 |
| Hourly rate | $24.66 | $35.94 |
| Growth rate | 6% | -7% |
| Number of jobs | 72,804 | 128,488 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 45 | 47 |
| Years of experience | - | 8 |
While a development specialist works on creating plans for community development, the economic developer helps implement the development strategies set forth by specialists. They help in the distribution of survey questionnaires and the collection of data, as well as the interpretation of results. The economic developer also helps in business creation, retention, and expansion. They take leads in developing a private sector-public relationship in terms of funding for project implementation. They are knowledgeable and have good communication skills.
A software developer is mostly responsible for the development, implementation, and design of new or modified software products or current business projects. They typically work within the IT department of a company and will be involved in coordinating with the business analysts and development managers to guarantee software projects meet standard requirements. They do complex tasks from testing to evaluating new program design, modification of existing programs, and subsequently developing these modifications. In addition, deploying software tools, maintaining and upgrading existing systems are also part of their responsibilities.
Economic developers and program developers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Economic Developer | Program Developer | |
| Average salary | $51,285 | $74,749 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $70,000 | Between $47,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Oregon |
| Best paying company | - | Western Digital |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between an economic developer and a program developer in terms of educational background:
| Economic Developer | Program Developer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between economic developers' and program developers' demographics:
| Economic Developer | Program Developer | |
| Average age | 45 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 55.3% Female, 44.7% | Male, 42.6% Female, 57.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 5.6% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 11.2% White, 64.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 5.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 15.0% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 11% |