Software engineering demographics

Software engineers form part of the workforce around the world. As of 2016, it is estimated that there are 16 million professional software developers.[1]

United States

As of 2016, it was estimated that 3.87 million professional software developers worked in the US[1] out of a total employed workforce of 152 million[2] (2.54%).

Summary

Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2002, about 612,000 software engineers worked in the U.S. - about out of every 200 workers. There were 55% to 60% as many software engineers as all traditional engineers. This comparison holds whether one compares the number of practitioners, managers, educators, or technicians/programmers. Software engineering had 612,000 practitioners; 264,790 managers, 16,495 educators, and 457,320 programmers.

Role # SE Title # TE Title Ratio of SE to TE
Practitioners 611,900 Software Engineers 1,157,020 Traditional Engineers 53%
Managers 264,790 Computer and Information Systems Managers 413,750 Engineering Managers + Construction Managers 64%
Educators 16,495 Computer Science (practical) 29,310 Engineering Teachers 56%
Technicians 457,320 Computer Programmers 516,170 Engineering Technicians 88%

[3] [4] [5] [6]

Software Engineers Versus Traditional Engineers

The following two tables compare the number of software engineers (611,900), versus the number of traditional engineers (1,157,020). The ratio is 53%.

There are another 1,500,000 people in system analysis, system administration, and computer support, many of whom might be called software engineers. Many systems analysts manage software development teams and analysis is an important software engineering role, so many of them might be considered software engineers in the near future. This means that the number of software engineers may actually be much higher.

Note also that the number of software engineers declined by 5% to 10% from 2000 to 2002.

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary
15-1031Software Eng., Applications356,760$34.09$35.48$73,8000.7 %
15-1032Software Eng., Systems Software255,040$35.60$36.46$75,8400.6 %
17-2011Aerospace Engineers74,210$34.97$35.63$74,1101.1 %
17-2021Agricultural Engineers2,500$24.38$26.79$55,7302.9 %
17-2031Biomedical Engineers7,130$29.04$30.97$64,4201.7 %
17-2041Chemical Engineers32,110$34.85$36.06$75,0101.0 %
17-2051Civil Engineers207,480$28.88$30.29$63,0100.4 %
17-2061Computer Hardware Engineers67,180$34.69$36.61$76,1501.1 %
17-2071Electrical Engineers146,180$32.78$33.88$70,4800.4 %
17-2072Electronics Eng., Exc. Computer126,020$33.62$34.43$71,6000.6 %
17-2081Environmental Engineers45,720$29.52$30.50$63,4400.7 %
17-2111Health and Safety, Exc. Mining34,160$27.89$28.77$59,8300.7 %
17-2112Industrial Engineers151,760$29.88$30.57$63,5900.3 %
17-2121Marine Eng., Naval Architects4,810$32.04$32.83$68,2802.2 %
17-2131Materials Engineers22,780$30.09$30.92$64,3101.0 %
17-2141Mechanical Engineers203,620$30.23$31.33$65,1700.4 %
17-2151Mining and Geological Eng.5,050$29.70$31.14$64,7702.4 %
17-2161Nuclear Engineers15,180$39.11$39.57$82,3001.3 %
17-2171Petroleum Engineers11,130$40.08$41.13$85,5401.4 %

Computer Managers Versus Construction and Engineering Managers

Computer and information system managers (264,790) manage software projects, as well as computer operations. Similarly, Construction and engineering managers (413,750) oversee engineering projects, manufacturing plants, and construction sites. Computer management is 64% the size of construction and engineering management.

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary
11-3021Computer and Information Systems Managers264,790$40.98$43.48$90,4400.3%
11-9021Construction Managers208,360$30.53$34.24$71,2100.7%
11-9041Engineering Managers205,390$43.71$46.03$95,7500.3%

Software Engineering Educators Versus Engineering Educators

Until now, computer science has been the main degree to get, whether one wanted to make software systems (software engineering) or study the theoretical and mathematical facets of software systems (computer science). The data shows that the number of chemistry and physics educators (29,610) nearly equals the number of engineering educators (29,310). I estimate that similarly, 12 of computer science educators emphasize the practical (software engineering) (16,495) and 12 of computer science educators emphasize the theoretical (computer science) (16,495). This means that software engineering education is 56% the size of traditional engineering education. Computer science is larger than all engineering, and larger than all physics and chemistry.

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary
25-1021Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary32,990(4)(4)$55,330 1.1%
25-1032Engineering Teachers, Postsecondary29,310(4)(4)$73,100 1.3%
25-1052Chemistry Teachers, Postsecondary17,670(4)(4)$60,800 1.3%
25-1054Physics Teachers, Postsecondary11,940(4)(4)$66,9601.0

Other Software and Engineering Roles

CodeDescriptionNumberHourly payAnnual salary
15-1051Computer Systems Analysts467,750$30.24$31.20$64,8900.5%
15-1041Computer Support Specialists478,560$18.80$20.35$42,3200.5%
15-1061Database Administrators102,090$26.68$28.41$59,0800.5%
15-1071Network and Computer Systems Administrators232,560$26.35$27.70$57,6200.4%
15-1081Network Systems and Data Communications Analysts133,460$28.09$29.51$61,3900.6%
17-3011Architectural and Civil Drafters101,190$17.95$18.78$39,0600.6%
17-3012Electrical and Electronics Drafters35,470$19.76$21.16$44,0200.8%
17-3013Mechanical Drafters68,280$19.58$20.71$43,0800.9%

Relation to IT demographics

Software engineers are part of the much larger software, hardware, application, and operations community. In 2000 in the U.S., there were about 680,000 software engineers and about 10,000,000 IT workers.

There are no numbers on testers in the BLS data.

India

There has been a healthy growth in the number of India's IT professionals over the past few years. From a base of 6,800 knowledge workers in 1985-86, the number increased to 522,000 software and services professionals by the end of 2001-02. It is estimated that out of these 528,000 knowledge workers, almost 170,000 are working in the IT software and services export industry; nearly 106,000 are working in the IT enabled services and over 230,000 in user organizations.[7]

References

See also

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