Are you the type of person who likes to analyze a problem and find a solution? That's just what you'll be doing if you become a principal software engineer. In this role, you will evaluate the end-user's needs and then develop the perfect software solution. More specifically, you'll look at a problem and the ultimate business goals. Based on these goals, you'll develop, document, and test software that meets those needs.
You'll also be expected to maintain and upgrade existing software or recommend new technologies that can help increase productivity. Since principal software engineers often oversee the technical aspects of the project, they are also asked to provide technical guidance to development teams.
To succeed in this field, you'll need to have basic programming knowledge, analytical skills, logical thinking, and specific knowledge of mathematics. Proven experience in software development methodologies along with high-level programming languages, like Java, is typically required as well.
To get into this field, principal software engineers most commonly study computer science, electrical engineering, or computer engineering. Must hold a bachelor's or master's degree
How to Become a Principal Software Engineer
What is a Principal Software Engineer
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Principal Software Engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $65.69 an hour? That's $136,635 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Principal Software Engineer Do
There are certain skills that many Principal Software Engineers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Analytical skills, Communication skills and Creativity.
How To Become a Principal Software Engineer
If you're interested in becoming a Principal Software Engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 68.9% of Principal Software Engineers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 24.4% of Principal Software Engineers have master's degrees. Even though most Principal Software Engineers have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Principal Software Engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a Principal Software Engineer, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Principal Software Engineer resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Doctoral Degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Principal Software Engineer. In fact, many Principal Software Engineer jobs require experience in a role such as Senior Software Engineer. Meanwhile, many Principal Software Engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as Software Engineer or Consultant.
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Principal Software Engineer Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a Principal Software Engineer can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as Principal Engineer, progress to a title such as Project Manager and then eventually end up with the title Product Director.
Principal Software Engineer Jobs You Might Like
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Average Salary for a Principal Software Engineer
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12 Principal Software Engineer Resume Examples
Build a professional principal software engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 12+ resume templates to create your principal software engineer resume.
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Jeremy Russell Principal Software Engineer |
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Patricia Harper Principal Software Engineer Experience Principal Software Engineer2017 - Present AT&T•Saint Louis, MO
Senior Engineer2016 - 2017 ManTech International•College Park, MD
Developer2010 - 2016 IBM•College Park, MD
Junior Developer2009 - 2010 Capital One•College Park, MD
Skills EthernetProceduresPerformance ReviewsSQLReliabilityInfrastructureConfiguration ManagementJavascriptTechnical ExpertiseLog4J Education Bachelor's Degree Computer Science2006 - 2009 University of Maryland - College Park•College Park, MD |
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Learn How To Write a Principal Software Engineer Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Principal Software Engineer resumes and compiled some information about how to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Principal Software Engineer Resume Examples And TemplatesAnd if you’re looking for a job, here are the five top employers hiring now:
Choose From 10+ Customizable Principal Software Engineer Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Principal Software Engineer templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Principal Software Engineer resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Find the best Principal Software Engineer job for you
Principal Software Engineer Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Principal Software Engineer Jobs - $176K and Up
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- Entry Level Principal Software Engineer Jobs
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- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Principal Software Engineer Jobs
Top Colleges for Principal Software Engineers
1. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA • Private
3. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
4. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Private
5. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
6. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
7. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Pomona, CA • Private
8. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
9. Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, MN • Private
10. Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, NC • Private
Find the best Principal Software Engineer job for you
Principal Software Engineer Jobs You Might Like
- High Paying Principal Software Engineer Jobs - $176K and Up
- Work From Home Principal Software Engineer Jobs
- Entry Level Principal Software Engineer Jobs
- Part Time Principal Software Engineer Jobs
- Actively Hiring
- No Degree Principal Software Engineer Jobs
Online Courses For Principal Software Engineer That You May Like
Learn Python 3 with Software Engineering Concepts Learn Python GUI, Object Oriented Programming, Data Visualization...
Learn Software Engineering, SDLC, Software Project Management, Software requirements, Software Design Basics & more!...
Software Engineering 101: Use Software Engineering to Plan and Build Amazing Software + Learn SCRUM Framework!...
Top Skills For a Principal Software Engineer
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 11.5% of Principal Software Engineers listed Software Development on their resume, but soft skills such as Analytical skills and Communication skills are important as well.
Best States For a Principal Software Engineer
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a Principal Software Engineer. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Oregon, California, and Idaho. Principal Software Engineers make the most in Washington with an average salary of $172,999. Whereas in Oregon and California, they would average $159,543 and $157,342, respectively. While Principal Software Engineers would only make an average of $138,820 in Idaho, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Washington
$172,999
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
$159,543
Avg. Salary
3. California
$157,342
Avg. Salary
How Do Principal Software Engineer Rate Their Jobs?
Top Principal Software Engineer Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ Principal Software Engineers and discovered their number of Principal Software Engineer opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Oracle was the best, especially with an average salary of $114,512. Dell follows up with an average salary of $142,943, and then comes Fidelity Technologies with an average of $139,024. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a Principal Software Engineer. The employers include Microsoft, Dell, and Salesforce
Principal Software Engineer Videos
Becoming a Principal Software Engineer FAQs
Do principal engineers write code?
No, principal engineers do not write code typically. The software programming that they develop is given to programmers who write code.
It is the responsibility of the principal engineer to assess company needs and design software to address those needs. These individuals will oversee teams of programmers and instruct them during the code writing process.
All software-related issues fall under the supervision of the principal software engineer. In addition to training programmers and software engineers, these engineers will work to maintain and upgrade existing software and research and create solutions to technical issues.
A principal software engineer is considered a level four position and represents the next to highest engineer rank within an organization. Therefore, many of these engineers are focused on company-wide issues with other software engineers handling the day-to-day work of team oversight.
How long does it take to become a principal software engineer?
It takes approximately six to eight years after graduation from college to become a principal software engineer. After earning the appropriate degree, candidates for this position must amass several years of relevant work experience.
Many principal software engineering candidates begin by earning an appropriate college degree. Computer science, computer engineering, and software engineering are the most popular bachelor's degrees sought by aspiring principal software engineers.
After entering the field, it is important to gain experience. Many candidates will work as entry-level coders or work in junior programming positions.
While working in these positions, learning high-level programming languages such as C+ is valuable. Working up to the L4 position of principal software engineer will require a minimum of six years of work experience in the field.