"java," "javascript," and "architecture" aren't the only skills we found lead developers list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of lead developer responsibilities that we found, including:
See the full list of lead developer skills.
After discovering the most helpful skills, we moved onto what kind of education might be helpful in becoming a lead developer. We found that 68.0% of lead developers have graduated with a bachelor's degree and 20.9% of people in this position have earned their master's degrees. While most lead developers have a college degree, you may find it's also true that generally it's impossible to be successful in this career with only a high school degree. In fact, our research shows that one out of every nine lead developers were not college graduates.
Those lead developers who do attend college, typically earn either computer science degrees or business degrees. Less commonly earned degrees for lead developers include electrical engineering degrees or computer engineering degrees.
When you're ready to become a lead developer, you might wonder which companies hire lead developers. According to our research through lead developer resumes, lead developers are mostly hired by ICF, Arrow Electronics, and Deloitte. Now is a good time to apply as ICF has 141 lead developers job openings, and there are 103 at Arrow Electronics and 101 at Deloitte.
Since salary is important to some lead developers, it's good to note that they are figured to earn the highest salaries at Mayo Clinic, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and Meta. If you were to take a closer look at Mayo Clinic, you'd find that the average lead developer salary is $167,859. Then at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, lead developers receive an average salary of $166,130, while the salary at Meta is $164,980.
View more details on lead developer salaries across the United States.
If you earned a degree from the top 100 educational institutions in the United States, you might want to take a look at IBM, Lockheed Martin, and Raytheon Technologies. These three companies have hired a significant number of lead developers from these institutions.
For the most part, lead developers make their living in the technology and professional industries. Lead developers tend to make the most in the retail industry with an average salary of $119,501. The lead developer annual salary in the finance and manufacturing industries generally make $118,956 and $115,629 respectively. Additionally, lead developers who work in the retail industry make 8.4% more than lead developers in the professional Industry.