Even entry-level software engineers can earn extremely lucrative compensation, a fact that drives many people to pursue software engineering as a profession. Those who progress up the software-engineering career ladder can unlock not only a high salary but stock options and other benefits. What do you actually need to know about the software engineer salary? And how can you unlock the best possible compensation? In this blog post, we will discuss the average salary of a software engineer even as a senior or entry-level candidate working in either Google or Amazon. Let’s dig into some data, tips, and tricks.
What is a Software Engineer?
Even an entry-level software engineer can earn an incredibly attractive salary, which motivates many people to seek a career in software engineering. Those who advance up the software-engineering job ladder might profit from not only a high salary but also stock options and other perks. What do you really need to know about the salary of a software engineer? And how can you get the best possible remuneration? In this blog post, we will discuss the average salary of a software engineer even as a senior or entry-level candidate working in either Google or Amazon. Let’s dig into some data, tips, and tricks.
What is a Software Engineer?
Software engineers create and manage software and systems ranging from video games to mobile apps to security measures. Software engineers frequently begin their careers as interns or as junior engineers, QA testers, or entry-level developers. Though not usually required, software engineers normally have at least one year of development experience as well as a bachelor’s degree in engineering, computer science, or a related profession. A software engineer’s salary ranges from $65K to $325K.
What Does a Software Engineer Do?
Software developers must learn how to design and implement complete systems, ranging from small apps to big cloud-based services. To carry out that objective, they must not only grasp the technical parts of software but also use their “soft skills” (such as empathy and communication) to obtain buy-in from stakeholders across an organization, from other team members all the way up to senior management. (This differs from software developers, who are typically more concerned with the technical execution of software products.)
Many software engineers begin their careers as software developers, where they concentrate on coding. They may then take on additional management-related responsibilities. Here’s a resume template for a software engineer that illustrates a “typical” career development as well as the relevant skills.
What is the Average Salary of a Software Engineer?
The typical base salary for a software engineer is $125,837, according to Indeed. All types of software engineers are included, from web developers to app developers. There have been over a million open job ads for software engineers in the last year, and the average time to fill a position is 43 days, indicating a strong degree of demand.
Software developers can earn a lot of money, especially if they specialize. A principal software engineer, for example, can earn $153,288, while a cloud engineer can earn $145,416. Back-end software engineers earn significantly less ($129,150) but are still slightly higher than data engineers ($122,811) and systems engineers ($120,800). As with other technical occupations, specialization can result in a significant rise in salary, as well as other benefits such as bonuses and stock options.
Salary of a Software Engineer by Levels
This provides an overview of what the sector pays as an average salary for each level of software engineer, including entry-level, junior, and senior. However, this is merely a preliminary estimate. Salaries will differ depending on the state and the company. Many major corporations pay significantly more than the averages mentioned here.
Work experience is an important aspect in deciding a software development engineer salary: the more experience, the better the compensation. Let’s see how that pans out.
#1. Entry-Level Software Engineer Salary
An entry-level software engineer has less than a year of experience or has recently finished a software engineering internship. An entry-level software engineer’s responsibilities are likely to be confined to writing code or expanding on existing code bases while working with a team of experienced programmers.
According to Glassdoor, the average entry-level software engineer salary in the United States is $76,882. Although the starting salary for an entry-level software engineer is typically between $70,460 and $84,500. The salary ranges for entry-level software engineers can vary greatly depending on a variety of criteria, such as education, certifications, additional abilities, and the number of years you have worked in your field.
#2. Mid-Level Software Engineer Salary
A mid-level software engineer has two to five years of industry experience. They often have advanced language capabilities in Java, Python, and JavaScript, as well as process knowledge in DevOps, front-end/back-end programming, and quality analysis. Alternatively, they will have industry knowledge in a subject such as healthcare, retail, financial services, and so on. Many mid-level engineers focus on areas such as cybersecurity, DevOps, and mobile app development.
According to Salary.com, the average annual salary for a mid-level software engineer in the United States is $93,000.
#3. Senior Software Engineer Salary
A senior-level software engineer is a technical specialist or manager with five or more years of experience. A technical specialist directs software development projects and is accountable for delivering high-quality software on time and within budget. They keep an overarching picture of the project, communicate with many stakeholders, gather user feedback, and verify that the software solutions match business requirements. They also endeavor to develop the organization’s technical leadership and intellectual property.
A manager leads teams by bringing cross-functional abilities together, ensuring they work effectively together, delegating and controlling performance, resolving potential difficulties, performing reviews, and so on. A senior software engineer in a smaller business may juggle both of these positions, and their salary may reflect this.
In the United States, the average senior software engineer salary is $115,600 per year. A senior software engineer’s annual supplementary pay or salary is predicted to be $28,883. Cash bonuses, commissions, tips, and profit sharing may be included in the senior software engineer salary.
Now that we know the salary range of a software engineer at all typical levels, such as entry-level, mid-level, and senior, let’s look at their salary by state.
Software Engineer Salary by Location
Some places in the United States pay more than others based on the demand and supply of software engineering skills, competition, cost of living, and so on. Let’s have a look at some of the highest-paying locations and the accompanying software engineer salaries.
| City | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Jose, CA | $181,646 | $15,137 | $3,493 | $87.33 |
| Oakland, CA | $179,135 | $14,927 | $3,444 | $86.12 |
| Antioch, CA | $175,633 | $14,636 | $3,377 | $84.44 |
| San Francisco Bay Area, CA | $174,097 | $14,508 | $3,348 | $83.70 |
| Hayward, CA | $173,468 | $14,455 | $3,335 | $83.40 |
| Seattle, WA | $173,256 | $14,438 | $3,331 | $83.30 |
| Redmond, WA | $173,076 | $14,423 | $3,328 | $83.21 |
| Union City, CA | $170,857 | $14,238 | $3,285 | $82.14 |
| Santa Cruz, CA | $170,064 | $14,172 | $3,270 | $81.76 |
| Concord, CA | $169,382 | $14,115 | $3,257 | $81.43 |
What are the Top 5 Best Paying Related Software Engineer Jobs in the U.S.?
We discovered at least five positions in the Software Engineer job category that pay more per year than the average Software Engineer salary. These positions include Research Software Engineer, Principle Software Engineer, and Remote Lead Software Engineer, to name a few.
These example occupations pay between $6,225 (4.4%) and $60,068 (42.9%) more than the average Software Engineer salary of $139,952. If you are qualified, being hired for one of these relevant Software Engineer positions may enable you to earn more money than the usual Software Engineer employment.
| Job Title | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Research Software Engineer | $200,020 | $16,668 | $3,846 | $96.16 |
| Principle Software Engineer | $164,194 | $13,682 | $3,157 | $78.94 |
| Remote Lead Software Engineer | $163,208 | $13,600 | $3,138 | $78.47 |
| Senior Software Engineer Team Lead | $158,857 | $13,238 | $3,054 | $76.37 |
| Senior Lead Software Engineer | $146,177 | $12,181 | $2,811 | $70.28 |
Salary of a Software Engineer by Company
While a software engineer can get a basic notion of their salary path, there will be variations within various businesses, including Google and Amazon. Some will have more layers than the examples shown above. When determining the salary of a software engineer, consider Google, which offers nine levels for software engineers and eight levels on their software engineer management path. This also applies to Amazon, Microsoft, and others.
A little investigation will reveal career trajectories and related wages for many of the top technology businesses. Smaller businesses may necessitate a little more investigation.
Microsoft Corp, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Amazon, and J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (JPMCC) are the top responders for the job title Software Engineer. A software engineer’s salary is highest at Google, Inc., where the average pay is $127,963, followed by Amazon.
Other firms that pay well for this position include Microsoft Corp and Cisco Systems Inc, which pay roughly $119,987 and $115,897, respectively. Raytheon Company pays the least, roughly $79,018 per year. Northrop Grumman Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation are likewise on the bottom end of the salary scale, with $84,996 and $87,899, respectively.
Are Software Engineers in Demand?
Software engineering is a career that has a lot of potential. Over the next ten years, the number of software engineers will increase by 17.3 percent. That’s a lot of possibilities, but it also means a lot of competition from other engineers. To differentiate yourself in a crowded market, you should consider obtaining in-demand skills.
But which abilities? Employers are currently particularly interested in and willing to pay a high salary for a software engineer who has grasped the subtleties of GitHub, Amazon Web Services (AWS), test-driven development (TDD), and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). There’s also a lot of interest in developing with TypeScript, jQuery, and PostgreSQL.
As previously said, those with the necessary skills and experience can easily earn a six-figure salary as a software engineer, particularly with tech behemoths such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft.
How Can You Earn More as a Software Engineer?
Here are a few techniques to increase your salary in software engineering:
#1. Gain experience
Experience is the most important aspect of obtaining top salaries. Experience helps you differentiate yourself and improve the pay you can command, whether in a specific area like healthcare or retail, a programming language like Python or Java, or a platform like iOS or Windows.
#2. Specialize
The more unique your skills, the more in demand you will be. For example, if you are a specialist in a new industry, such as cryptocurrencies, you will most likely be headhunted and offered competitive pay.
#3. Develop leadership skills
As your software engineering career progresses, you will be required to lead teams and complicated projects. Developing problem-solving and leadership abilities will allow me to naturally advance to positions such as distinguished software engineer or software engineering fellow.
#4. Collaborate with your community
Contributing to open-source projects, giving presentations at events, mentoring young programmers, developing side projects, and other activities help software engineers attain technical/thought leadership. This offers them credibility outside of the organization for which they work, making them more appealing to potential employers.
Do Software Engineers Make 300K?
You certainly can. The majority of Software Engineer 300K salaries in the United States presently range from $110,500 (25th percentile) to $173,000 (75th percentile), with top earners (90th percentile) earning $205,000 per year.
Can Software Engineers Make 100K?
Yes, a software engineer can earn $100,000 per year. A software engineer’s prospects of making more than $100,000 are actually rather strong, given the highest-paid software engineer roles often pay at least $129,000 per year.
How Hard Is It To Be a Software Engineer?
Software engineering can be difficult to learn at first, especially for those who lack programming or coding abilities, as well as any experience or knowledge of technology, however, there are numerous courses, tools, and other resources available to help people learn to become Software Engineers.
Can Software Engineers Make Good Money?
Yes. In the United States, a software engineer is now responsible for three of the top 10 highest-paying jobs. Software engineering is also one of the fastest-growing professions. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts 11% growth this decade, far above all other occupations.
Can You Make $500,000 as a Software Engineer?
Yes, a software engineer can earn up to $500,000 per year. However, $500,000 per year is significantly more than the typical salary for a software engineer. Software developers often earn a salary ranging from $60,000 to $130,000 per year.
Can a Software Engineer Earn $1 Million Dollars per Year?
Yes, a software engineer can make a million dollars. While pay varies according to expertise, some software engineers can earn approximately one million dollars per year. In 2022, the average salary for a software engineer was $118,000 per year. The methods of obtaining large salaries vary according to time and location.
Is Software Engineering a Lot of Math?
Two software engineering career options necessitate a thorough understanding of mathematics. AI/ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning) and game creation are the two pathways. Both necessitate the development of complicated modeling techniques that extend beyond the simple algebra required for most full-stack reasoning.
Conclusion
There are numerous paths to becoming a Software Engineer. While a computer science degree was once considered the most important initial step toward becoming a Software Engineer, this is no longer the case.
Google and Apple, for example, no longer require a computer science degree. Rather than formal schooling, these organizations’ recruiters prioritize experience and competence. So, hone your talents and apply to superior organizations like Google or Amazon to earn a high salary as a software engineer.
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