Difference between Hardware Engineer and Software Engineer

The term hardware and software are linked with the computers. Anything that can be touched is called hardware which includes keyboard, mouse, CPU and monitor. Whereas on the other hand that cannot be touched is called software which includes Operating System and different application which are developed by writing code. Due to development in technology demand of both hardware and software engineers is increasing day by day. And due to this development its importance cannot be overlooked.

Hardware Engineer

Hardware engineers are not concerned with the internal working of the computer but are concerned with the outer working. The hardware includes the processors, memory, Random Access Memory and Read Only Memory. The responsibility of hardware engineer is that all the hardware parts are perfectly assembled together and are working properly in order to support the software to run on that platform. Hardware facilitates software to execute properly.

Software Engineer

Software engineers are the developers of different software and applications which are making our life much easy and fast. They apply the software disciplines and develop software’s. They are also developer of operating systems which is running on the computers.  They are involved in automation of the manual system working. They are responsible for development of the software which are reliable and consistence.

Hardware Engineer VS Software Engineer

Skills:

Hardware Engineer must be aware of Configuration settings, Troubleshooting, Coordination and Visualization.

Software Engineer should be problem solving, time management, programming and monitoring.

Education:

The hardware engineer must hold the bachelor’s or master’s degree in Computer Engineering.

Software Engineer must hold bachelors or master’s degree in Software Engineering.

Salary:

Salary of hardware Engineer is comparatively higher than software Engineer which is $112,760.

Salary of Software Engineer is less in contrast with Hardware Engineer which is $107,840.

Responsibility:

Hardware Engineer studies the hardware design and the interaction of the software with the hardware and troubleshooting problem on occurrence.

Software Engineers are responsible for development of software following software development rules and it also involves analysis of algorithm.

Tangibility:

The products produced by hardware can be physically felt on touch.

The software and application developed by Software Engineer have no physical existence and they cannot be touched.

Dependency:

The hardware engineers are much important than software engineers as the computer cannot run without hardware like mouse, keyboard etc. and will produce an error.

The software engineers are less important than hardware engineer as the computer can run without software support.

Programming Languages:

Hardware Engineers have to do nothing with the programming skills. They don’t need to learn any programming language.

Software engineers must have grip to all the programming languages and must know about all the concepts of programming.

Example:

Examples include building smartphones, laptops and computers.

Example includes video games, operating systems and software’s.

Conclusion

Both hardware and software engineer are vital for proper working of the computer. Without the help of software engineer the hardware engineer is of no use as no platform is available for the software to run and vice versa. So they both are facilitating each other.