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Software project leader vs software development manager

The differences between software project leaders and software development managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a software project leader, becoming a software development manager takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a software development manager has an average salary of $134,747, which is higher than the $109,474 average annual salary of a software project leader.

The top three skills for a software project leader include software development, project management and scrum. The most important skills for a software development manager are java, AWS, and architecture.

Software project leader vs software development manager overview

Software Project LeaderSoftware Development Manager
Yearly salary$109,474$134,747
Hourly rate$52.63$64.78
Growth rate21%21%
Number of jobs247,780265,464
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Average age3944
Years of experience46

Software project leader vs software development manager salary

Software project leaders and software development managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Software Project LeaderSoftware Development Manager
Average salary$109,474$134,747
Salary rangeBetween $84,000 And $142,000Between $100,000 And $180,000
Highest paying CityCupertino, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaAlaska
Best paying companyBoston Consulting GroupMeta
Best paying industryManufacturingTechnology

Differences between software project leader and software development manager education

There are a few differences between a software project leader and a software development manager in terms of educational background:

Software Project LeaderSoftware Development Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 71%Bachelor's Degree, 71%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyStanford University

Software project leader vs software development manager demographics

Here are the differences between software project leaders' and software development managers' demographics:

Software Project LeaderSoftware Development Manager
Average age3944
Gender ratioMale, 75.1% Female, 24.9%Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9%
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, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5%
LGBT Percentage8%11%

Differences between software project leader and software development manager duties and responsibilities

Software project leader example responsibilities.

  • Lead daily scrum meetings, organize and chair scrums with cross-functional teams to deliver the product goals and deliverables.
  • Maintain mature java-base web application design to automate highly detail engineering requests for the DoD.
  • Provide guidance and support to scrum team members, remove impediments and assist teams to maximize productivity.
  • Develop excellent debugging, analytical and programming skills.
  • Create the architecture framework for dynamically setting properties and property types for oracle using reflection.
  • Design enterprise software, including requirements analysis, software architecture, user interface, and database schema.
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Software development manager example responsibilities.

  • Plan and manage release schedules, upgrades and patches, maintenance windows.
  • Justify, evaluate, hire, and manage offshore contractors to supplement staff for a large HTML form coding project.
  • Manage workflow of projects through JIRA, ensuring that all necessary reviews are perform and projects are successfully release to production.
  • Manage all phases of application design--from requirements gathering, coding and prototyping through system testing, integration and deployment.
  • Manage many infrastructure upgrade projects nationwide.
  • Manage resource allocation for Lawson ERP implementation project.
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Software project leader vs software development manager skills

Common software project leader skills
  • Software Development, 15%
  • Project Management, 9%
  • Scrum, 8%
  • C, 6%
  • C++, 6%
  • Java, 6%
Common software development manager skills
  • Java, 17%
  • AWS, 9%
  • Architecture, 8%
  • Project Management, 4%
  • Database, 4%
  • Cloud Computing, 3%

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