A Software Engineering Manager is an administrative position, which reports to higher management, tasked with supervising and directing the work of other software engineers within projects involving the design and development of software, programs, and applications.
This Manager must establish and stick to a timeline and a budget, solve any issues that come up, create an efficient but healthy work environment, develop plans for the project, participate in the programming of the software, work with those in higher positions and explain work to them and potential customers, and mentoring new employees.
Typically, a Software Engineering Manager must have at least a Bachelor's degree in a subject such as Computer Science or Programming, along with several years of experience in a closely related industry or position. As an individual contributor, he must be proficient in programming languages and programs. Some experience in a managerial position might be requested as well.
Software Engineering Manager Overview
Working as a Software Engineering Manager
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a software engineering manager. For example, did you know that they make an average of $65.72 an hour? That's $136,693 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 Software Engineering Manager Do
There are certain skills that many software engineering managers 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 creativity, interpersonal skills and problem-solving skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a software engineering manager, we found that a lot of resumes listed 19.0% of software engineering managers included software development, while 6.1% of resumes included java, and 5.5% of resumes included python. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
When it comes to searching for a job, many search for a key term or phrase. Instead, it might be more helpful to search by industry, as you might be missing jobs that you never thought about in industries that you didn't even think offered positions related to the software engineering manager job title. But what industry to start with? Most software engineering managers actually find jobs in the technology and manufacturing industries.
How To Become a Software Engineering Manager
If you're interested in becoming a software engineering manager, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 46.5% of software engineering managers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 41.3% of software engineering managers have master's degrees. Even though most software engineering managers 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 software engineering manager. When we researched the most common majors for a software engineering manager, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on software engineering manager resumes include doctoral degree degrees or associate degree degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a software engineering manager. In fact, many software engineering manager jobs require experience in a role such as software engineer. Meanwhile, many software engineering managers also have previous career experience in roles such as senior software engineer or software engineer lead.
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Software Engineering Manager Career Paths
In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of senior project manager you might progress to a role such as information technology director eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title senior director of information & technology.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Software Engineering Manager
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
City of Boise IT Software Engineering Manager IT Software Engineering Manager | City of Boise City of Boise | 01/25/2021 01/25/2021 | $90,00001/25/2021 $90,000 |
Verizon Communications Software Engineering Manager Software Engineering Manager | Verizon Communications Verizon Communications | 01/25/2021 01/25/2021 | $120,20001/25/2021 $120,200 |
Evolve Vacation Rental Manager, Software Engineering Manager, Software Engineering | Evolve Vacation Rental Evolve Vacation Rental | 01/21/2021 01/21/2021 | $125,00001/21/2021 $125,000 |
Robert Half Software Engineering Manager Software Engineering Manager | Robert Half Robert Half | 01/19/2021 01/19/2021 | $130,00001/19/2021 $130,000 |
Management Decisions, Inc. Software Engineering Manager Software Engineering Manager | Management Decisions, Inc. Management Decisions, Inc. | 01/17/2021 01/17/2021 | $175,00001/17/2021 $175,000 |
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Software Engineering Manager Resumes
Designing and figuring out what to include on your resume can be tough, not to mention time-consuming. That's why we put together a guide that is designed to help you craft the perfect resume for becoming a Software Engineering Manager. If you're needing extra inspiration, take a look through our selection of templates that are specific to your job.
Learn How To Write a Software Engineering Manager Resume
At Zippia, we went through countless Software Engineering Manager resumes and compiled some information about how best to optimize them. Here are some suggestions based on what we found, divided by the individual sections of the resume itself.
View Detailed InformationTop Colleges for Software Engineering Managers
1. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
2. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
3. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Public
4. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
5. Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA • Public
6. Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN • Public
7. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
8. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
9. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Pomona, CA • Public
10. University of California - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Public
Top Skills For a Software Engineering Manager
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, 19.0% of software engineering managers listed software development on their resume, but soft skills such as creativity and interpersonal skills are important as well.
- Software Development, 19.0%
- Java, 6.1%
- Python, 5.5%
- Cloud, 5.4%
- High Quality, 4.5%
- Other Skills, 59.5% See All Software Engineering Manager Skills
Best States For a Software Engineering Manager
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a software engineering manager. The best states for people in this position are California, Washington, New York, and Oregon. Software engineering managers make the most in California with an average salary of $163,027. Whereas in Washington and New York, they would average $159,685 and $136,906, respectively. While software engineering managers would only make an average of $132,684 in Oregon, 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. California
$163,028
Avg. Salary
2. Washington
$159,686
Avg. Salary
3. Oregon
$132,684
Avg. Salary
How Do Software Engineering Manager Rate Their Jobs?
Top Software Engineering Manager Employers
We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ software engineering managers and discovered their number of software engineering manager opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Accenture was the best, especially with an average salary of $112,809. Capital One follows up with an average salary of $121,615, and then comes LinkedIn with an average of $182,056. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a software engineering manager. The employers include Microsoft, Dell, and Mastercard
Software Engineering Manager Videos
