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The differences between senior performance engineers and engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a senior performance engineer, becoming an engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior performance engineer has an average salary of $110,382, which is higher than the $92,077 average annual salary of an engineer.
The top three skills for a senior performance engineer include java, jmeter and linux. The most important skills for an engineer are python, cloud, and C++.
| Senior Performance Engineer | Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $110,382 | $92,077 |
| Hourly rate | $53.07 | $44.27 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 95,530 | 618,207 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.33 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 44 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
Senior Performance Engineers are responsible for optimizing production systems to support traffic growth and new products. Their duties include creating a best practice framework for performance monitoring, scalability, and dependency handling, as well as developing testing infrastructure for post-deployment of production. They are responsible for designing alerts and dashboards, addressing performance issues, conducting root-cause analysis, defining process architecture, and facilitating site reliability in determining requirements for product scalability. Senior Performance Engineers also develop training programs to mentor operation services personnel.
Engineers are highly trained professionals who determine the feasibility of various projects, usually related to the construction industry. They are considered experts in mathematics and science, two disciplines that they need to use in designing and coming up with plans for projects. They should also be well-versed in different construction or industrial materials, and they ensure that appropriate materials are used for the project. They also ensure that the projects meet the requirements of the groups that hired them. They create spaces that would both address the needs of the end-users and the industry standards. They also ensure that the projects they make would stand the test of time.
Senior performance engineers and engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Performance Engineer | Engineer | |
| Average salary | $110,382 | $92,077 |
| Salary range | Between $83,000 And $146,000 | Between $65,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Huntsville, AL |
| Highest paying state | California | New Hampshire |
| Best paying company | Netflix | Fort Bend County |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a senior performance engineer and an engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Performance Engineer | Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between senior performance engineers' and engineers' demographics:
| Senior Performance Engineer | Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 76.2% Female, 23.8% | Male, 86.3% Female, 13.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 67.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 5% |