Software Developer vs Software Engineer - What's The Difference?

The IT field has always been attractive to those interested in growing their career in software, but not everyone knows if software development is the right path ...

This article will highlight the key differences between a software engineer vs a software developer. After reading our guide, you will not only know the main differences between them, but you will also be able to choose the right profession.

Role Of A Software Engineer

Software engineering is an area that is difficult to grasp, especially for those who are non-tech savvy. This profession not only requires knowledge of computer science but also patience and perseverance. You need to constantly monitor the latest innovations in the tech world, think logically, and collaborate with your clients and teammates.

Trying to figure it out alone is like teaching yourself Chinese if you've never spoken a foreign language before. So we will take the risk of taking on the role of "Chinese mentor" and clear this up for you.

The good old Wikipedia defines a software engineer as "a person who applies the principles of software engineering to the design, development, maintenance, testing, and evaluation of computer software."

Thus, a software engineer is expected to possess a range of skills and experience, as well as a large amount of theoretical knowledge from the following:

1. Mathematics
2. Experience with tech tools
3. Programming experience
4. Patience
5. Control
6. Problem-solving
7. Opportunity to constantly grow professionally

As the software engineer, your job will involve frequent conversations with other team members—you will need to translate certain tasks and commands into programmed code. Thus, a software engineer must be prepared to communicate frequently with business developers, marketers, and other team members to help the project achieve its business goals.

Role Of A Software Developer

A software developer is someone who writes, controls and sets up computer programs or software. Their main responsibilities include creating efficient code and writing programming code for reference. The job of a software developer is a creativity based on logic.

The following are the essential skills for a successful software developer:

1. Java
2. SQL
3. JavaScript
4. Python
5. Microsoft C #
6. Linux
7. Go
8. Oracle
9. DevOps

Besides knowledge of computer languages, a software developer must have great analytical skills to be able to connect the client's requirements with the capabilities of the software.

Second, the ability to multitask is a huge advantage. This will help them work on different projects at different stages of development.

Recommended Read: How Do We Develop Winning Products at InvoZone?

Communication and feedback skills, flexibility, customer satisfaction, and attention to detail are also important. Just like a snowball rolling down a hill, even small mistakes can quickly grow into big problems.

Finally, software developers have a high level of responsibility. They must not only develop software to meet user needs but also test it before launching.

Differences Between Software Engineers and Software Developers

Now that you have familiarized yourself with the specifics of these two professions, we will move on to the comparison.

Before drawing your attention to details, let's clarify how the important difference between the two works.

“The difference between engineers and developers is that a developer takes a functional specification and provides the required hard-coded code, essentially completing the task that is isolated.”

A software engineer usually works on a larger scale and applies engineering principles to software development, which means that a software engineer not only performs tasks but also designs the entire program architecture.

There is another expression that will briefly but definitely help you distinguish between the two:

"a software engineer can be a software developer, but a software developer cannot be a software engineer."

Why? A developer is someone who works with a program, and a software engineer works to create a framework for that program. Let's take a closer look.

1. A software engineer is a communicators:  They never start a development process without talking to customers and figuring out their software needs.
2. Software engineers have a broader range of responsibilities: The job of software engineers requires more creativity and the ability to solve problems.
3. Different design philosophies: A software engineer and a software developer follow the same operating principle but have different design philosophies.
4. Different directions: Software developers are more attentive to details. Software engineers are more focused on structural design.
5. Software development is the creation of functional programs: Finally, the main difference between software engineering and software development is that the former is concerned with the development and the latter is with the creation of functional programs.

There are also several criteria to be discussed to really clarify all the differences between the two professions. We are going to assess salaries, workload, and job opportunities.

Difference in salary

Salary is often the deciding factor when choosing a job. In addition, the salary in the IT sector has always been attractive. According to Glassdoor.com, a software developer can expect to earn about $ 80,000 a year or $ 6,700 a month. In contrast, a software engineer can earn about $103,000 per year or nearly $ 8,600 per month. This is a significant difference because engineers have a much broader range of responsibilities.

Whose job is more stressful?

Stressful work means work that requires time and effort, involves working with people, and a high level of responsibility.

To be honest, both professions cause the same stress. Both engineers and software developers perform many complex tasks.

What about job opportunities?

If your specialization offers a wide range of job opportunities, you are more likely to find something to your liking.

When it comes to careers, software engineers have more freedom of choice. They can work with web apps, systems, app development, UX analytics, data analytics, etc. Software engineers have a universal set of knowledge, so they can change their field of activity at any time.

Software developers have more limited choices - they can work as front-end or back-end developers.

Choose Wisely

After reading this guide, you might think that becoming a software engineer is more prestigious and therefore better. In truth, the "better-worse" type of comparison is not very appropriate here. Both professions involve a wide range of challenges and required skills.

Despite significant differences in skills, degrees, overall responsibilities, work dynamics, roles in the development lifecycle, and development approaches, both software engineers and software developers are equally in demand for recruiters.

You can be sure that by choosing one of these professions, you will not feel a shortage of finances and job opportunities. If you are looking for a job in any of these professions, apply here.