A Senior Software Engineer has six to eight years of experience. A senior software engineer typically works with an experienced team, so they should be able to lead and mentor less experienced team members. They are expected to have a strong understanding of the latest technologies within their industry and will often work as part of a team developing new or adapted technologies.
Senior Software Engineer (Mid) salaries are very high in the United States and higher than most other parts of the world. According to our research, typical programmers earn between $32.43 and $42.79 hourly. The average programmer salary in the US is around $57,000 per year or $26.53 hourly for a full-time job, according to statistics from PayScale.com.
Salary For Senior Software Engineer Overview
If you’re interested in working as a senior software engineer, you may be wondering what kind of salary you can expect.
The answer is: it depends on where you live. But some places will be better than others.
According to Glassdoor, the average annual salary for a senior software engineer in Nigeria is $18,000 CAD. That’s far less than most other countries—including places like Google, where the average annual salary for a senior software engineer is $163,000 CAD (or roughly $125,000 USD).
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all senior software engineers earn that much at Google! It just means that Google pays their employees more than most other companies do. The same goes for the other tech companies on Glassdoor’s list: Facebook pays its engineers an average of $138,000 per year (worth about $107,000 USD) while Amazon pays theirs an average salary of $134,000 per year (worth about $104,000 USD).
Who Is A Senior Software Engineer
A senior software engineer position is pretty complicated, which is why the positions are typically saved for individuals with a lot of prior experience and knowledge. It’s definitely not your run-of-the-mill, entry-level position, that’s for sure.
Senior software engineers come up with solutions to software after studying the informational needs. They also rely on feedback from users, and they study how the system flows, uses data, and processes. The majority of their job is based on investigating problem areas. Essentially, you’ll be a software problem solver. But with a fancier title.
The majority of the time, you’ll be working 40 hours a week. But there will be weeks when you have to work 50 hours. It just comes with the job. And, like we mentioned before, you need to have experience and knowledge for this position. We’re talking eight years of related experience and probably a bachelor’s degree. It’s definitely not an entry-level position.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a Senior Software Engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $53.89 an hour? That’s $112,098 a year!
How To Become a Senior Software Engineer
If you’re interested in becoming a Senior Software Engineer, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We’ve determined that 68.8% of Senior Software Engineers have a bachelor’s degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 23.6% of Senior Software Engineers have master’s degrees. Even though most Senior Software Engineers have a college degree, it’s impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a Senior Software Engineer. When we researched the most common majors for a Senior Software Engineer, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor’s Degree degrees or Master’s Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Senior Software Engineer resumes include Associate Degree degrees or Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a Senior Software Engineer. In fact, many Senior Software Engineer jobs require experience in a role such as Software Engineer. Meanwhile, many Senior Software Engineers also have previous career experience in roles such as Developer or Software Developer.
Top 10 Highest Paying Cities for Senior Software Engineer Remote Jobs
We’ve identified 10 cities where the typical salary for a Senior Software Engineer Remote job is above the national average. Topping the list is San Francisco, CA, with Fremont, CA and San Jose, CA close behind in the second and third positions. San Jose, CA beats the national average by $24,318 (17.5%), and San Francisco, CA furthers that trend with another $35,151 (25.3%) above the $139,168 average.
With these 10 cities having average salaries higher than the national average, the opportunities for economic advancement by changing locations as a Senior Software Engineer Remote appears to be exceedingly fruitful.
Finally, another factor to consider is the average salary for these top ten cities varies very little at 10% between San Francisco, CA and Barnstable Town, MA, reinforcing the limited potential for much wage advancement. The possibility of a lower cost of living may be the best factor to use when considering location and salary for a Senior Software Engineer Remote role.
| City | Annual Salary | Monthly Pay | Weekly Pay | Hourly Wage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | $174,319 | $14,527 | $3,352 | $83.81 |
| Fremont, CA | $169,745 | $14,145 | $3,264 | $81.61 |
| San Jose, CA | $163,487 | $13,624 | $3,144 | $78.60 |
| Oakland, CA | $161,826 | $13,485 | $3,112 | $77.80 |
| Jackson, WY | $161,767 | $13,481 | $3,111 | $77.77 |
| Hayward, CA | $158,739 | $13,228 | $3,053 | $76.32 |
| Seattle, WA | $157,949 | $13,162 | $3,037 | $75.94 |
| Vallejo, CA | $157,914 | $13,160 | $3,037 | $75.92 |
| Sunnyvale, CA | $157,544 | $13,129 | $3,030 | $75.74 |
| Barnstable Town, MA | $156,622 | $13,052 | $3,012 | $75.30 |
