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Firmware developer vs senior staff systems engineer

The differences between firmware developers and senior staff systems engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a firmware developer and a senior staff systems engineer. Additionally, a senior staff systems engineer has an average salary of $139,932, which is higher than the $87,481 average annual salary of a firmware developer.

The top three skills for a firmware developer include python, java and software development. The most important skills for a senior staff systems engineer are java, systems engineering, and C++.

Firmware developer vs senior staff systems engineer overview

Firmware DeveloperSenior Staff Systems Engineer
Yearly salary$87,481$139,932
Hourly rate$42.06$67.28
Growth rate21%21%
Number of jobs78,552237,501
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age3939
Years of experience22

Firmware developer vs senior staff systems engineer salary

Firmware developers and senior staff systems engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Firmware DeveloperSenior Staff Systems Engineer
Average salary$87,481$139,932
Salary rangeBetween $65,000 And $117,000Between $108,000 And $181,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASeattle, WA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaAlaska
Best paying companyParsonsCheniere Energy
Best paying industryInternetTelecommunication

Differences between firmware developer and senior staff systems engineer education

There are a few differences between a firmware developer and a senior staff systems engineer in terms of educational background:

Firmware DeveloperSenior Staff Systems Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeHarvard UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Firmware developer vs senior staff systems engineer demographics

Here are the differences between firmware developers' and senior staff systems engineers' demographics:

Firmware DeveloperSenior Staff Systems Engineer
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 93.5% Female, 6.5%Male, 87.9% Female, 12.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 30.0% White, 52.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage8%8%

Differences between firmware developer and senior staff systems engineer duties and responsibilities

Firmware developer example responsibilities.

  • Analyze and manage the project throughout SDLC, written/review specification documents.
  • Develop SRAM/FRAM SPI interface for use in network communication.
  • Write an application in VC++ which facilitates API testing.
  • Board support package for ARM9 processors, board bring up and debugging.
  • Develop a boot loader enabling firmware updates via I2C / SMBus interface.
  • Develop UART driver for cost saving initiative to implement RS232 hardware in FPGA.
  • Show more

Senior staff systems engineer example responsibilities.

  • Develop and integrate software that drives flight control system hardware and achieves product requirements for an international avionics customer base.
  • Used Chicago, GPO, and DoD style manuals.
  • Design electrical heater control with improve immunity to RF.
  • Organize and perform the RF spectrum interference analysis with mitigation solutions.
  • Author EMC white papers on symmetrix-base solutions and implementation best practices, to directly support sales/service delivery.
  • Perform communications interference analyses involving various customer spacecraft and NASA assets, including characterization of communications degradation due to co-channel interferers.
  • Show more

Firmware developer vs senior staff systems engineer skills

Common firmware developer skills
  • Python, 12%
  • Java, 9%
  • Software Development, 7%
  • C, 7%
  • C++, 7%
  • Linux, 6%
Common senior staff systems engineer skills
  • Java, 9%
  • Systems Engineering, 7%
  • C++, 6%
  • MATLAB, 6%
  • RF, 4%
  • Windows, 4%

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