Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between software engineers-consultant and software quality 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 engineer-consultant and a software quality engineer. Additionally, a software engineer-consultant has an average salary of $113,987, which is higher than the $99,902 average annual salary of a software quality engineer.
The top three skills for a software engineer-consultant include java, python and architecture. The most important skills for a software quality engineer are software quality, java, and python.
| Software Engineer-Consultant | Software Quality Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $113,987 | $99,902 |
| Hourly rate | $54.80 | $48.03 |
| Growth rate | 21% | - |
| Number of jobs | 317,033 | 279,437 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A software engineer consultant develops and recommends strategies to optimize a company's software engineering operations. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis to find new opportunities, performing software evaluations and risk assessments, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of existing processes, and developing solutions against problem areas. Through the findings of their research, a software engineer consultant draws conclusions and recommendations that will help the company to reach their short and long-term goals and resolve issues or concerns.
A Software Quality Engineer ensures that the software of a company meets all quality standards. They are responsible for software development, inspection, implementation, testing, and verification.
Software engineers-consultant and software quality engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Software Engineer-Consultant | Software Quality Engineer | |
| Average salary | $113,987 | $99,902 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $152,000 | Between $73,000 And $136,000 |
| Highest paying City | Foster City, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Advent Software | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a software engineer-consultant and a software quality engineer in terms of educational background:
| Software Engineer-Consultant | Software Quality Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Harvard University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between software engineers-consultant' and software quality engineers' demographics:
| Software Engineer-Consultant | Software Quality Engineer | |
| Average age | 39 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9% | Male, 67.3% Female, 32.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.7% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 11% |