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The differences between usability engineers and software engineers lead 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 lead. Additionally, a software engineer lead has an average salary of $125,565, 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 lead are java, python, and software development.
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer Lead | |
| Yearly salary | $98,689 | $125,565 |
| Hourly rate | $47.45 | $60.37 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 242,166 | 342,462 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 Lead is focused on developing and testing software programs. They manage a team of software engineers that design enterprise software products and operating systems.
Usability engineers and software engineers lead have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer Lead | |
| Average salary | $98,689 | $125,565 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $145,000 | Between $93,000 And $168,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | Washington |
| Best paying company | Varian Medical Systems | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a usability engineer and a software engineer lead in terms of educational background:
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer Lead | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 69% |
| 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 lead' demographics:
| Usability Engineer | Software Engineer Lead | |
| Average age | 39 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.3% Female, 45.7% | Male, 86.7% Female, 13.3% |
| 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, 4.5% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 8.3% Asian, 29.9% White, 52.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |