A senior software engineer/architect must be able to design and develop high-quality software applications. Your core duties are writing, coding, and debugging software applications for clients. You will be expected to direct software development projects, execute tasks in the software development lifecycle and lead a team of software engineers and developers.
You will need to perform validation and testing for all programs and collaborate with internal teams and vendors to fix technical issues when necessary. You will also be responsible for delegating responsibilities to your team, offering guidelines, implementing policies and standards, and ensuring that project goals are met within stipulated timelines and guidelines.
A master's degree is most appealing to employers, although a bachelor's degree in software engineering, computer science, or a related field should suffice. You should also consider getting your Software Engineering Master Certification (SEMC). Skills that employers are always on the lookout for include python, java, software development, and analytical skills. The average yearly salary for any senior software engineer is $86,000.
How to Become a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior software engineer/architect. For example, did you know that they make an average of $60.14 an hour? That's $125,081 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 Senior Software Engineer/Architect Do
There are certain skills that many senior software engineers/architect 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 Senior Software Engineer/Architect
If you're interested in becoming a senior software engineer/architect, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 65.8% of senior software engineers/architect have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 25.4% of senior software engineers/architect have master's degrees. Even though most senior software engineers/architect 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 senior software engineer/architect. When we researched the most common majors for a senior software engineer/architect, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on senior software engineer/architect resumes include associate degree degrees or doctoral degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a senior software engineer/architect. In fact, many senior software engineer/architect jobs require experience in a role such as senior software engineer. Meanwhile, many senior software engineers/architect also have previous career experience in roles such as software engineer or software developer.
Senior Software Engineer/Architect 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 senior software engineer/architect can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as senior software architect, progress to a title such as director of software development and then eventually end up with the title president & chief technology officer.
Average Salary for a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Senior Software Engineer/Architects
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
3. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
4. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA • Private
5. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
6. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
7. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
8. Lehigh University
Bethlehem, PA • Private
9. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
10. Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA • Private
Top Skills For a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
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, 8.1% of senior software engineers/architect listed architecture on their resume, but soft skills such as analytical skills and communication skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Software Engineer/Architect Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Senior Software Engineer/Architect templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Senior Software Engineer/Architect resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Demographics
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among senior software engineers/architect, 8.0% of them are women, while 92.0% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among senior software engineers/architect is White, which makes up 56.1% of all senior software engineers/architect.
- The most common foreign language among senior software engineers/architect is Spanish at 27.8%.
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Best States For a Senior Software Engineer/Architect
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a senior software engineer/architect. The best states for people in this position are Washington, California, Oregon, and Nevada. Senior software engineers/architect make the most in Washington with an average salary of $157,770. Whereas in California and Oregon, they would average $151,455 and $148,051, respectively. While senior software engineers/architect would only make an average of $141,921 in Nevada, 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
$157,770
Avg. Salary
2. Oregon
$148,051
Avg. Salary
3. California
$151,455
Avg. Salary
How Do Senior Software Engineer/Architect Rate Their Jobs?
Top Senior Software Engineer/Architect Employers
Most Common Employers For Senior Software Engineer/Architect
| Rank  | Company  | Average Salary  | Hourly Rate  | Job Openings  |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Microsoft | $174,889 | $84.08 | 8 |
| 2 | Intel | $138,344 | $66.51 | 13 |
| 3 | Northrop Grumman | $136,563 | $65.66 | 10 |
| 4 | St. Jude Children's Research Hospital | $133,148 | $64.01 | 4 |
| 5 | Wipro Limited | $130,252 | $62.62 | 16 |
| 6 | Western Union | $129,517 | $62.27 | 16 |
| 7 | APP | $129,484 | $62.25 | 6 |
| 8 | Hewlett Packard Enterprise | $129,369 | $62.20 | 8 |
| 9 | Robert Half | $129,171 | $62.10 | 5 |
| 10 | Motion Recruitment | $128,981 | $62.01 | 6 |
Senior Software Engineer/Architect Videos
