Roles of Software Engineers and Biomedical Engineers - Essay Example

?ANALYTICAL REPORT of Your Department of Your June 20, Address Dear This is a formal analytical report on recommendation for career choice. The purpose of the report is to enlighten leaders on the requirements for joining engineering courses particularly in Biomedical engineering and Software Engineering. The report focuses on the roles, demand, and remuneration for software engineers and biomedical engineers in United States. The report also focuses on the factors that determine the salaries for engineers. Sincerely Your Name Summary This report offers background information on software engineering and biomedical engineering. The report gives details on the requirements to pursue each of the two careers, the roles played by the two professions, their areas of work, as well as the remuneration ranges for each of the two professions. In addition the paper recommend software engineering as the career of choice due to its dynamicity and potential in transforming not only the field of biomedical engineering but also every part of human life. Table of Contents Your Name i University Name i Address i Dear Professor, i This is a formal analytical report on recommendation for career choice. The purpose of the report is to enlighten leaders on the requirements for joining engineering courses particularly in Biomedical engineering and Software Engineering. The report focuses on the roles, demand, and remuneration for software engineers and biomedical engineers in United States. The report also focuses on the factors that determine the salaries for engineers. i Sincerely i Your Name i Summary ii Table of Contents iii Introduction 1 Roles of Software Engineers and Biomedical Engineers 1 Job Description for Software Engineering 2 Job Description for Biomedical Engineering 2 Remuneration for software Engineers and Biomedical Engineers 4 Salary ranges for Software Engineers 4 Salary ranges for Biomedical Engineers 6 Career recommendation 6 Conclusion 7 Appendix B: Research Areas in Biomedical Engineering 9 Introduction Choosing an appropriate career entails considering ones talents style of work strengths and weaknesses in various subjects require for success in your career choice as well as one’s salary requirement. One of the most interesting important and inspiring fields of study is engineering. Engineering is a broad field whose professions colonizes several aspects of life and exploits science and technology to transform creations to enhance life. To be an engineer, one is required to have a deep proclivity towards technology, positive attitude, as well as apparent understanding of mathematics and some fundamental knowledge on scientific law. The two careers I will discuss on are Biomedical Engineering and Software Engineering. The two careers fall under the field of engineering and are somehow related. Biomedical engineering is a field of engineering that focuses on use of technological innovations to advance the healthcare sector. The innovations include generating more accurate and prompt analytical kits and machineries, prosthetic appliances, and synthetic organs. On the other hand, software engineering is a field of professions dealing with designing and safeguarding of computers as well as computer systems. Software engineers, areas of work include digital, software and operating systems as well as in computer networks. This report focuses on the details concerning the roles of professionals in each of the profession, the remuneration ranges, as well as reasons why software engineering is a recommendable profession. Roles of Software Engineers and Biomedical Engineers Generally, the two professions engage in developing up to date computerized technologies. However, the roles of biomedical engineers are extensive thus there are several other partitions but the roles of the specialists in these subdivisions intermingle. On the other, hand, software engineering entails coming up with new software to enhance different computers programs as well as come up with novel and improved programs. Pursuing software engineering requires one to have an excellent background in science and mathematics in addition to a great passion for computers. Professions in the two fields are required to be creative and ready to work in teams since the innovations require frequent consultations and collaborations. Job Description for Software Engineering Software engineering entails coming up with better and more efficient computer software using skill such as EPRS and computer lingo. Software engineers play several roles, which include devising and improving programming systems that can be used to assess performance of other systems, managing bug reports (Bhuyan, 2002). Software engineers also design software programs intended for resolving information-processing problems. Another role involves ensuring that logic as well as syntax function properly in any program, reviewing old programs to do away with the ineffective ones and replace them with novel, better and more cost effective programs. Additionally, software engineers detect and troubleshoot problematic programs and come up with answers to the problems. Software engineering also entails documentation of codes in different programs as well as coming up with programs to facilitate any changes that may be necessary. Software engineers thus function in almost all fields (Bhuyan, 2002). Job Description for Biomedical Engineering Biomedical engineering entails coalescing knowledge in computer programming with knowledge in medicine and biology. To pursue this course, strong background knowledge in sciences and mathematics is required (Lee, 2010) Biomedical engineers make use of already established engineering expertise in evaluation and resolution of biological and medical problems with the aim of enhancing the provision of healthcare. However, biomedical engineers attempt to advance the technologies to deal with upcoming medical complications (Lee, 2010) The field of biomedical engineering if further subdivided into smaller specialties such as bioinstrumentation, genetic engineering, cellular engineering, rehabilitation engineering, tissue engineering, medical imaging, and orthopedic surgery (biomedcafeonline.com, 2010). The above are just but a few areas of expertise since the field of biomedical engineering is vast growing with new subsections emerging every now and then. Due to the broad nature of the biomedical engineering profession, the different specialists have different roles to play but this report will list the general roles that biomedical engineers are endowed with, since the different specialties constantly work in collaborations since the roles interact (Lee, 2010). These roles include developing artificial organs such as hearts, monitoring of mechanized or automated patients such as in the intensive care unit or during surgery, devising finest clinical laboratories that are computerized for fast and accurate analysis of samples for better and timely diagnoses. Another duty of biomedical engineers designing of blood chemistry sensors, up to date surgical devices, medical imaging structures such as magnetic resonance imaging, modeling of computerized physiological systems such as renal function, designing computerized systems for disease diagnoses, advancing the field of sport medicine by coming up with new support devices. In addition, design biomaterials and deal with biomechanics of wound curing (Lee, 2010) Biomechanics work together with other professional such as therapists, physicians, nurses, clinicians, and technicians. They work in environments such as universities, medical institutions, and research institutions (Lee, 2010) Remuneration for software Engineers and Biomedical Engineers In any field of operation, certain factors determine ones earnings. These factors also apply in the field of engineering and include the level of experience, academic qualifications, the company one is working for, as well as the state or city of employment. Salary ranges for Software Engineers Software Engineers are amongst the highest paid professionals particularly in the information technology sector. The level of experience amongst software engineers is determined by estimating the time one spends working in software creation and development. Generally, the starting salary for software engineers ranges between $44,000 and $63,000 (Rampur, 2010). As one progresses in software engineering, the salary increment starts being influence by factors such as experience, dedication to train in new technological advancements, type of employer, and promotion. After about four years as a professional engineer, the salary ranges between $50,000and $69,000 per annum depending on the company. After about 10-20 years, software engineers earn a salary ranging from about $67,000 to $92,000 per annum. After working in the field of software engineering for more than twenty years, any professional is entitled to claim a salary of approximately $70,000 to $97,000 per annum (Rampur, 2010; Software companies expand, employee pool doesn't, (Rampur, 2010) In United States, the city of employment also determines the remuneration with the highest paid software engineers being those working within the city of San Jose followed by San Francisco. In San Jose, software engineer starting salary is approximately $66,000 to $94,000 per year while in San Francisco, the starting salary ranges from $64,000 to $92,000 (Rampur, 2010). The other factor determining the salary is the type of employer. Software engineers are mainly employed by different organizations, which range from multinational software development companies to small firms. The size of the company greatly determines the salary. For software engineers working for multinational companies, the annual salary ranges from $53,000 to $77,000 approximately (Rampur, 2010).For small firms, the annual salaries range for starters is about $54,000 to $75,000. The salary can also depend on ones bargaining power when being hired as well as the basis of employment. Software engineers working on contract basis earn an annual salary of approximately $54,000 to $75,000, which is equivalent to the starting salary of their counterparts in small software developing firms. After working in the field of software engineering, on e may get a promotion depending on performance to become a senior engineer who earns a salary range of about $71,000 to $94,000 (Rampur, 2010). (Burea of Labor Statistics, 2010). Salary ranges for Biomedical Engineers The average salary for starters in biomedical engineering is roughly $49,000. The increment on the salary is determined by level of experience. After about two years of working as a biomedical profession, the salary rises to about $57,600. By 2010, the average salary for a biomedical engineer was approximately $84,000 (Kaufman, 2012). The working environment also determines the salary. Biomedical engineers working in scientific research are the highest paid earning an average of $93,930. Different cities offer different remunerations for biomedical engineers depending on the level of biotechnology. Alaska‘s biomedical engineers are the best paid and earn an average of $152, 180 followed by California with an average of $95,450. Acquisition of master’s degree or PhD results in salary increment (Kaufman, 2012). Career recommendation Among the two career choices I have analyzed, I would recommend someone interested in the field of engineering to pursue software engineering. This is because the profession is dynamic with new technological developments arising each day Contemporarily, Software engineering is a field that affects and sets the pace of advancement in almost every profession. Another reason is the high number of employment opportunities in the field of software development (Bhuyan, 2002). Due to the significant role played by software, engineers the job opportunities are expected to rise with time due to the need for development of advanced computers and software to meet the need for technological development. The computer networking is also growing vastly thus, the need for more software engineers will keep rising. This is unlike other field where the employment opportunities are either stagnating or increasing slowly. Another reason why it is recommendable to pursue software engineering is due to it interesting nature since it involves trying out novel ideas to come up with new technological advancement the ability to come up with new and helpful expertise is very motivating and encouraging and it instills a feeling of accomplishment amongst software engineers (Bhuyan, 2002; Collard, 2006). (Space Physics Research Laboratory, 2006). Conclusion The field of engineering is quite dynamic and plays a vital role in determining the pace of technological advancement not only in this field but also in other fields such as medicine. Of great interest are the fields of software engineering and biomedical engineering. Software engineering entails developing new computers as well as computer programs to be used to ease and improve labor in different fields as well as increase the accuracy. The roles of medical engineers involve designing of medical instruments, development of new software and gargets, and other duties, which entail using technical knowledge to come up with novel procedures or research methods for resolving clinical difficulty problems. Both fields are quite challenging but also rewarding as depicted in the excellent salary ranges even for starters. However, for recommendation purposes, the software engineering is the paramount career choice due to the appealing nature of work the availability of jobs and the critical role played by software engineers in almost every aspect of human life. Appendix A: Salary Chart for Engineers in USA (Internet Engineering Center, 2012) Appendix B: Research Areas in Biomedical Engineering (biomedcafeonline.com, 2010). References Bhuyan, D. (2002). Multiple Career Choices. New Delhi: Pustak Mahal. biomedcafeonline.com. (2010). Biomedical Engineering (BME). Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://biomedcafeonline.com/BME.php Burea of Labour Statistics, (2010, May). Occupational Employment Statistics. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.bls.gov/oes/2010/may/stem.htm Collard, R. (2006). A career Quest. IEEE Software, 23(4), 56. Internet Engineering Center, (2012). Salary Survey For Engineers In USA. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.interec.net/salary/ Kaufman, C. (2012, January 4). Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.schools.com/news/biomedical-engineer-salary-career-outlook.html Laboratory, S. P. (2006). X-Band Lightweight Rainfall Radiometer. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.sprl.umich.edu/projects/LRR/index.php Lee, J-S. (2010). Biomedical Engineering Entrepreneurship. World Scientific: London. Rampur, S. (2010). Software Engineer Salary Range. Retrieved June 20, 2012, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/software-engineer-salary-range.html Software companies expand, employee pool doesn't. 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