Top 15 Computer Science Jobs in USA

The average salary for a Computer Science job is ~$115,000.

This is one of the best career options for Indian students. The number of jobs for Computer Science is expected to grow by 11% between 2017 and 2024.

Application Architect

• Salary range - $66K – $183K
• Suggested degree – Computer Science, Data Science and Information Systems.

Typical job requirements include broad knowledge of software used within an organization; project management experience and senior-level software development experience. Responsibilities would include broadly overseeing the entire software development (application portfolio) effort for an organization; defining application architecture; interacting with the various role-specific architects, project manager, customer representatives; interacting with developers while enforcing architecture.

Software Engineer

Salary range - $61K – $160K Suggested degree – Computer Science, Computer Engineering.

Typical responsibilities/skills - Many organizations use Software Engineer and Software Developer terms interchangeably. While a Software Engineer creates/ tests/ documents software just as a Software Developer does, the former is more likely to also optimize software based on their technical, mathematical and/or scientific knowledge. Also, Software Engineers are certified by an engineering board.

Computer Network Architect

• Salary range – $78K – $156K
• Suggested degree – Computer Science, Information Systems.

Typical responsibilities/skills - Design internal and intra-office networks, including physical layout: LAN, WAN, Internet, VoIP, etc.; monitor network usage and performance, devise network tests and evaluate them; incorporate any new business requirements so as to upgrade overall network architecture; do any necessary cabling, routers, and install and configure hardware and software; follow or recommend a budget for projects; choose or recommend the appropriate network components. Network Architects usually have five or more years of experience as a Network Engineer, and supervise various other engineers in terms of implementing a networking plan.

Manager, Data Warehouse

• Salary range – $115K – $154K
• Suggested degree – Data Science, Computer Science.

Typical responsibilities/skills - collecting and analyzing business data from external and internal sources; interacting with stakeholders to understand and incorporate business requirements; database modeling, business intelligence skills, data mining, data analysis, reporting; overseeing data warehouse integrity; overseeing the benchmarking of performance; managing a team of Data Warehouse Developer / Analysts.

Data Architect

• Salary range – $111K – $153K
• Suggested degree – Data Science, Computer Science.

Typical responsibilities/skills - provide data architecture for an organization’s data assets, including databases, data integration (combining data sources into one view), data access; define the formal data description, structures, models, flow diagrams, and overall metadata; enable stakeholders to manage their portion of the databases or data warehouse, under guidance and data access policies; have logical and physical data modeling skills, whether they’re used in actuality or to oversee a Data Modeler’s efforts; define data warehouse policies including for Information Assurance. The role usually requires senior experience as a Database Developer/ Analyst / Engineer.

UX Designer

• Salary range – $65K – $150K
• Suggested degree – Graphic Design, Psychology, Marketing.

Typical responsibilities/skills - design software interface flow, user interactions, screen layout and organization, screen interaction (between screens), overall appearance (visual design), and optimize the user experience — typically through iterative improvements and user feedback to create engaging user experiences; create wire-frames or more realistic prototypes — possibly with the help of front-end web developers or a web designer with the necessary development skills; recommend design patterns that are both tested (on other Web sites or apps or desktop software) as well as appropriate to the software at hand; define A/B Split Testing studies to determine which variation of an interface is more engaging.

Mobile Application Developer

• Salary range – $100K – $144K
• Suggested degree – Computer Science, Programming.

Typical responsibilities/skills - design, write and maintain mobile application code; port features for an app from another platform (such as desktop, Web, phone, tablet, wearable computing) to the mobile platform in question; integrate databases (internal) and REST APIs (internal and external); produce API components as necessary and document usage for other developers (internal and sometimes external); devise and run code tests in simulator or hardware; work with Quality Assurance staff for additional; testing log and fix defects.

Business Intelligence Analyst

• Salary range – $101K – $142K
• Suggested degree – Data Science, Statistics, Business.

Typical responsibilities/skills - collection and analysis of business data for process improvement, similar to “continuous improvement” philosophy; express technical topics in a form non-technical decision makers can absorb; structure business intelligence for internally-defined purposes. The role can require an understanding of a specific software, particularly database systems, and may involve working closely with developers.

Manager, Information Technology

• Salary range – $99K – $142K
• Suggested degree – Information Technology, Management.

Typical responsibilities/skills - oversee the technical aspects of internal projects; maintain corporate IT procedures, with documentation; hire and lead a technical team to support the procedures; manage resources within a budget; keep up to date with new technologies, for recommending possible internal upgrades; interact with various departments, vendors and possibly consultants /contractors.

Read More - Comprehensive Guide to Studying Business Analytics in USA

Project Manager

• Salary range – $56K – $135K
• Suggested degree – Management, Business. This is a broader role than for an Applications Development Project Manager and may not require as much of a technical background.

Typical responsibilities/skills - an understanding of the computer systems or software being built / maintained; defining, maintaining, and enforcing a project schedule; updating schedule when requirements change or project facets become overdue; keep projects on or under-budget; understand Agile development process; run scrums; interact with multiple departments and many levels of co-workers, and convey to them the importance of their respective stakes while also keeping technical resources such as developers goal-oriented; update management on the status of projects, bottlenecks, requests for resources.

System Analyst or System Engineer

Salary range – $50K – $108K Suggested degree – Computer Science, Information Science, Computer Information Systems.

Typical responsibilities/skills - analyzes an organization’s computer systems and procedures; makes recommendations for process improvement; interacts with partners/ vendors and with programmers or programmer / analysts; analyzing the cost of system changes; the impact on employees; potential project timelines; needs to interact with department managers on IT requirements; incorporate feedback from both internal and external users into business requirement documents; incorporate feedback from designers; contribute technical requirements; advise technical teams on their role as well as their technology’s role in the organization; provide guidance to the programmer / developers with use cases.

Business System Analyst

• Salary range – $75K – $109K
• Suggested degree – Business Administration, Accounting, Finance.

Typical responsibilities/skills - analyze a broader range of processes and systems for an organization; understanding computer systems and information, and more technical reporting and documentation procedures; understanding SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle), UML (Unified Modeling Language) etc.

Solution Architect

• Salary range – $79K – $112K
• Suggested degree – Computer Science, Informtion Technology, Database Management.

Typical responsibilities/skills - understand SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle); have broad technical knowledge of computer systems; conduct process flow analyses; transform business/ customer requirements into technical requirements (functional design document); understand and have experience with databases; interact with developers and bridge different IT architect roles.

Pre-Sales Engineer / Technical Engineer

• Salary range – $82K – $116K
• Suggested degree – Computer Engineering, Information Technology.

Typical responsibilities/ skills - give product demonstrations to sales staff and potential customers and handle the technical aspects of RFIs / RFPs (Requests for Information / Requests for Proposal); communicate with both technical and non-technical staff and customers to pass on customer requirements to Product Managers;

Software Developer

• Salary range – $80K – $127K
• Suggested degree – Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Programming.

Typical responsibilities/skills - produce the overall design of new software or modules based on requirements passed down; produce flowcharts, algorithms and anything else necessary for the actual coding. Junior developers might start out by maintaining (debugging) existing code / features rather than designing new code. If the coding in an organization is not done separately by Computer Programmers, then it falls to the Software Developers — who might also do testing and debugging, or work with teammates who do that work.