Staff programmer vs systems programmer

The differences between staff programmers and systems programmers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a staff programmer and a systems programmer. Additionally, a staff programmer has an average salary of $112,979, which is higher than the $96,017 average annual salary of a systems programmer.

The top three skills for a staff programmer include database, COBOL and DB2. The most important skills for a systems programmer are provide technical assistance, video conferencing, and C++.

Staff programmer vs systems programmer overview

	Staff Programmer	Systems Programmer
Yearly salary	$112,979	$96,017
Hourly rate	$54.32	$46.16
Growth rate	-7%	-7%
Number of jobs	77,790	257,681
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	8	8

Staff programmer vs systems programmer salary

Staff programmers and systems programmers have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Staff Programmer	Systems Programmer
Average salary	$112,979	$96,017
Salary range	Between $85,000 And $149,000	Between $66,000 And $138,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Novato, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	The Walt Disney Company	Apple
Best paying industry	Telecommunication	Finance

Differences between staff programmer and systems programmer education

There are a few differences between a staff programmer and a systems programmer in terms of educational background:

	Staff Programmer	Systems Programmer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 70%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Staff programmer vs systems programmer demographics

Here are the differences between staff programmers' and systems programmers' demographics:

	Staff Programmer	Systems Programmer
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 76.3% Female, 23.7%	Male, 84.0% Female, 16.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 16.4% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 9.1% Asian, 14.9% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between staff programmer and systems programmer duties and responsibilities

Staff programmer example responsibilities.

Achieve improved efficiency and cost reduction goals through efforts and expertise provide in multiple LPAR eliminations and data center consolidations.
Provide technical support to team members on CICS, DB2, and design relate issues.
Develop UNIX shell script which calls the application.
Develop subsequent functionality using HTML, JavaScript, CSS, and AJAX.
Fast-Pace environment of office and production users of PC software and hardware.
Develop and support batch SAS reports, in support of ECAT routing system.

Systems programmer example responsibilities.

Configure TCP/IP, NFS for user networking communication and manage the network security for faster and reliable performance.
Advise CICS development on functional changes to take advantage of hardware cache enhancements, improving the performance of future CICS releases.
Achieve improved efficiency and cost reduction goals through efforts and expertise provide in multiple LPAR eliminations and data center consolidations.
Create and maintain programs by using the following languages: COBOL, SQL, HTML, and JavaScript.
Develop and update internal web interfaces for study data collection in PHP, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
Develop AbInitio graphs and convert complex PL/SQL procedures to validate the quality of data in individual tables on the database.

Staff programmer vs systems programmer skills

Common staff programmer skills

Database, 9%
COBOL, 6%
DB2, 4%
PL/SQL, 4%
Mainframe, 4%
HTML, 3%

Common systems programmer skills

Provide Technical Assistance, 12%
Video Conferencing, 8%
C++, 7%
Database, 5%
Mainframe, 5%
Technical Support, 3%