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Software director vs software engineer

The differences between software directors and software engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a software director and a software engineer. Additionally, a software director has an average salary of $150,380, which is higher than the $100,260 average annual salary of a software engineer.

The top three skills for a software director include software development, CRM and java. The most important skills for a software engineer are java, python, and software development.

Software director vs software engineer overview

Software DirectorSoftware Engineer
Yearly salary$150,380$100,260
Hourly rate$72.30$48.20
Growth rate21%21%
Number of jobs207,295339,938
Job satisfaction-3.5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Average age3939
Years of experience44

Software director vs software engineer salary

Software directors and software engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Software DirectorSoftware Engineer
Average salary$150,380$100,260
Salary rangeBetween $103,000 And $218,000Between $73,000 And $136,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Bruno, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyNVIDIAThe Citadel
Best paying industryStart-upStart-up

Differences between software director and software engineer education

There are a few differences between a software director and a software engineer in terms of educational background:

Software DirectorSoftware Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 73%Bachelor's Degree, 73%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityHarvard University

Software director vs software engineer demographics

Here are the differences between software directors' and software engineers' demographics:

Software DirectorSoftware Engineer
Average age3939
Gender ratioMale, 88.7% Female, 11.3%Male, 78.0% Female, 22.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.6% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.8% White, 52.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%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 Percentage8%8%

Differences between software director and software engineer duties and responsibilities

Software director example responsibilities.

  • Manage staff of architects, analysts and UI design personnel.
  • Lead configuration, and optimization of open source embed Linux distribution on the OMAP-L processor to achieve optimal boot performance.
  • Hire and manage blended team, design and implement test lab leveraging existing infrastructure and execute application test plans.
  • Extend department s bandwidth into new technologies, including cloud computing, compute continuum and data sharing and application software.
  • Establish and maintain SQA testing laboratory, prepare acceptance, certification, regression, and Y2K test plans and product specifications.
  • Perform browser compatibility testing and user acceptance testing (UAT )
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Software engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage product releases, solve software bugs in a client/server environment, write UNIX shell scripts to manage development environments.
  • Manage responsive UI design, implementing complex, dynamic functionality.
  • Define continuous integration process and configure Jenkins build server to manage it.
  • Develop a python serial communication program to automate test procedures and verify proper operation.
  • Manage website/software/mobile applications by generating full scope requirements base upon PMI / SDLC guidance.
  • Contribute to implementing microservices used to manage entities and maintain a synchronize state between supplier and distributor.
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Software director vs software engineer skills

Common software director skills
  • Software Development, 16%
  • CRM, 8%
  • Java, 8%
  • Cloud, 8%
  • Product Management, 5%
  • Lifecycle Management, 5%
Common software engineer skills
  • Java, 15%
  • Python, 9%
  • Software Development, 6%
  • Database, 3%
  • GIT, 3%
  • Object Oriented Programming, 3%

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