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The differences between sales 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 sales 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 $93,727 average annual salary of a sales engineer.
The top three skills for a sales engineer include pre sales, customer service and sales process. The most important skills for a software engineer are java, python, and software development.
| Sales Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $93,727 | $100,260 |
| Hourly rate | $45.06 | $48.20 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 132,324 | 339,938 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | 3.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 44 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A sales engineer is responsible for assisting customers with their technical equipment and advanced scientific product needs. Sales engineers must have excellent knowledge of the scientific processes and component functions of the products they're selling to deliver presentations and orient the customers. Sales engineers' duties also include troubleshooting, identifying product defects, and upgrading systems for better optimization. They are also responsible for analyzing cost estimates documents, performing adjustments as needed, process payments, arranging deliveries, and settling customers' complaints by replacing damaged items or doing refunds.
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.
Sales engineers and software engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sales Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average salary | $93,727 | $100,260 |
| Salary range | Between $66,000 And $132,000 | Between $73,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a sales engineer and a software engineer in terms of educational background:
| Sales Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 74% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between sales engineers' and software engineers' demographics:
| Sales Engineer | Software Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9% | Male, 78.0% Female, 22.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 7.1% White, 76.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 7% | 8% |