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The differences between usability engineers and software engineers-consultant can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a usability engineer and a software engineer-consultant. Additionally, a software engineer-consultant has an average salary of $113,987, which is higher than the $98,689 average annual salary of a usability engineer.
The top three skills for a usability engineer include user experience, UI and user research. The most important skills for a software engineer-consultant are java, python, and architecture.
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer-Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $98,689 | $113,987 |
| Hourly rate | $47.45 | $54.80 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 242,166 | 317,033 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A usability engineer conducts studies to ensure a user can easily access all features of a product. They design questionnaires, interview-based studies, and tests. They also design and prototype user interfaces in HTML. They usually have a narrow area of specialization.
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.
Usability engineers and software engineers-consultant have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer-Consultant | |
| Average salary | $98,689 | $113,987 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $145,000 | Between $85,000 And $152,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Foster City, CA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | California |
| Best paying company | Varian Medical Systems | Advent Software |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a usability engineer and a software engineer-consultant in terms of educational background:
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer-Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 71% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Maryland - College Park | Harvard University |
Here are the differences between usability engineers' and software engineers-consultant' demographics:
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer-Consultant | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.3% Female, 45.7% | Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 29.1% White, 53.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |