Data Scientists vs. Software Engineers — Who Earns More?

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While the focus and primary goals of a data scientist and software engineer could be very similar, the methods and tools to achieve them are very different. Both the data scientists and software engineers work to automate the processes to increase their efficiency and help businesses.

Whether you’re looking to begin coding as a hobby, a new career, or just to enhance your current role, the first thing you’ll have to do is decide which programming language you want to start with. There is no right answer, of course. Choosing a first language will depend on what kind of projects you want to work on, who you want to work for, or how easy you want it to be. Hopefully, this guide will help give you a better idea of which one you should pursue.

Data scientists will approach a problem more comprehensively — establishing a problem statement, querying the given data, exploratory data analysis, model building and development, and finally, interpreting the results.

On the other hand, software engineers focus mainly on developing functionalities, programs, and applications to help the end-users.


★ What is Data Science?

Data science can be described as extracting the data from various mediums and converting it into knowledge. Only after businesses have the required particular understanding of the data, can they make important decisions.

The last decade has seen a great rise in the importance of data science and the requirement of data scientists has increased extensively. Businesses are in an excellent competitive environment, and only if they are making the right decisions at the right time they can keep up with the pace of competition. And, this is not possible without the assistance of data scientists and data science.

★ What is Software Engineering?

Unlike data science, which is very vast and difficult to explain, software engineering is very self-explanatory. It involves developing new programs and software using data science and development skills.

However, the job of a software engineer does not end once the program is developed. We know that there is no such thing as bug-free software, the secondary role of software engineers is to patch existing software constantly and make sure that it is performing as per requirements.


★ Differences Between Data Scientist and Software Engineers

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★ Qualifications and Skills Required for a Software Engineer vs. Data Scientist

As we have discussed earlier, the primary concentration of software engineers is on coding, while data scientists work on machine learning, statistics, data visualization, and thus creating order out of chaos. Hence, the required skillset of these two fields varies, and so do the qualifications of relevant professionals. In this section, we shall take a detailed look into the required skills and qualifications for software engineers and data scientists:

Data Scientist

  • Domain knowledge
  • Statistics and probability
  • Data mining
  • Machine learning language
  • Quantitative analysis
  • Statistics and probability
  • Scientific and business knowledge
  • Big data processing
  • Building data products and visualization of the data

Software Engineers

  • Understanding and analyzing end-user requirements
  • Core programming languages (like, c++, java, c, etc.)
  • Data modeling skills
  • Software testing
  • Software configuration tools (puppet, chef, etc.)
  • Build and release skills
  • Project management skills

While software engineers and data scientists usually hold at least bachelor’s degrees in their respective fields, software engineers don’t require the same level of formal education as data scientists do.



★ Career Paths for Data Science vs. Software Engineering

One of the most common questions people have asked is what career path they should opt for between data science and software engineering. In this section, we’ll tell you how you can advantage as a data scientist or a software engineer. Moreover, you will be able to navigate your choices easily.

Data Science

The career path of a data scientist from very junior to an experienced and senior data scientist varies greatly in responsibilities, skill level, daily tasks, and tech’s favorite topic — the science of total compensation.

When we look out for any kind of technical role for data scientists, there are usually always two main paths: the individual contributor path and the management path.

The individual contributor path in data science involves data scientists who primarily work on core data science projects, contribute to the code, run analyses, and construct ETL pipelines and thus machine learning models.

The management path in data science, on the other hand, encompasses experienced data scientists who scale data strategy, manage other technical staff, and work on solving all the data puzzles for a company.

Software Engineer

On the other hand, a software engineer’s career path is very different compared to data science. If you want to become a software engineer, you must be proficient in at least one programming language. Furthermore, as already discussed, the barrier to entry in this field is not as high as that of data science.

  • Back-end Developers
  • Tools and Enterprise Software Developers
  • Embedded System Developers
  • Front-End Developers
  • Mobile Engineers
  • Game Developers
  • Full-Stack Engineers
  • Graphics Engineer
  • Data Engineer
  • DevOps Engineer
  • Software Development Engineer in Test
  • Embedded Systems Engineer
  • Security Engineer

However, it is not all, and you can explore a lot of other options for yourself as a software engineer.



★ Who Earns More?

Here is the average salary across the United States based on the level of their experience

Data Science

Data science is a new field, and it offers a very handsome career with salaries exceeding $165,000. However, it doesn’t mean that they are earning higher than software engineers, as it all comes down to individuals and the kinds of opportunities they have availed.



Software Engineer

Since software engineering is an established career now, experienced software engineers even earn up to $160,000. While the demand for software engineering seems only increasing, the salaries of data scientists are eventually catching up with those of software engineers.




★ Should I Become a Data Scientist or a Software Engineer?

The answer to this question lies within you. Only you know where your interests lie, and what you are good at, and that is why you should be answering this question yourself.



Hope I could help you to clear your doubts. If You have still any doubts, Feel free to reach me out on prasadcomputershahada@gmail.com . Also Your suggestions are welcomed.