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The differences between senior applications engineers and associate 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 senior applications engineer, becoming an associate software engineer takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a senior applications engineer has an average salary of $107,989, which is higher than the $78,981 average annual salary of an associate software engineer.
The top three skills for a senior applications engineer include java, C++ and database. The most important skills for an associate software engineer are java, python, and C++.
| Senior Applications Engineer | Associate Software Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $107,989 | $78,981 |
| Hourly rate | $51.92 | $37.97 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 274,466 | 298,481 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A senior applications engineer specializes in designing and developing a variety of applications and systems, ensuring quality and efficiency. Their responsibilities typically revolve around utilizing feedback and client needs when making decisions, creating test structures for applications, performing installment and repairs, troubleshooting, and performing regular maintenance checks and upgrades. Furthermore, as a senior applications engineer, it is essential to lead and encourage the engineering team to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
An associate software engineer is an individual who is responsible for improving existing software or designing new application software. Working under the supervision of a senior software engineer and together with a team of engineering professionals, associate software engineers must be able to code software and ensure that it can run with different types of technology. They must have the technical knowledge and expertise of commanding programming languages such as JAVA, HTML, and CSS. Associate software engineers are also required to assist the QA team in testing the software before it is released to the customers.
Senior applications engineers and associate software engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Applications Engineer | Associate Software Engineer | |
| Average salary | $107,989 | $78,981 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $138,000 | Between $60,000 And $102,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Netflix | JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior applications engineer and an associate software engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Applications Engineer | Associate Software Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 80% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between senior applications engineers' and associate software engineers' demographics:
| Senior Applications Engineer | Associate Software Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.9% Female, 11.1% | Male, 67.3% Female, 32.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 17.1% White, 67.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 4.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 7.7% Asian, 39.6% White, 43.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 8% |