Virginia Software Engineer Salary and How to Increase It

The software engineer salary in Virginia is $100,200 yearly.

This post provides complete information on the salary of a software engineer in Virginia, to help you learn what the pay is like working and living in the State, including the highest paying cities and companies in Virginia for software engineering jobs.

Please, read on:

If you are considering earning a high salary as a software engineer in the Northeast of the U.S. one of the ideal places to be is Virginia.

Software engineers in Virginia are expected to earn $100,200 yearly, which is 12% higher than the National average, in addition to $4,200 cash bonus.

However, the living cost in Virginia is 101.6%.

Software Engineer Salary across Virginia Cities

Software engineers in Virginia are amongst the leading earners in the industry in the U.S.

Salaries start at $100,200 yearly, with cities like Newport News, Alexandria, and Richmond in the top earners bracket.

The State typically is a high cost place to live in (101.6%), but a survey shows over 50% of software engineers in the State of Virginia is happy despite the high cost of living.

Highest Paying Cities for Software Engineers in the State of Virginia

The State of Virginia has a number of big metropolitan areas, but listed below are the top paying cities for software engineers:

City	Yearly Salary ($)
Newport News	125,999
Alexandria	120,570
Richmond	118,332
Arlington	117,781
Virginia Beach	112,995
Charlottesville	110,521
Portsmouth	108,173
Chesapeake	107,872
Hampton	107,092
Norfolk	104,878

Software Engineer Salary Based on Skill in the State of Virginia

Skills are an integral part of a software engineer’s pathway to earning a huge income and getting on the fore front of the workforce.

A good and well sought after skill translates to a bumper pay salary at the end of the month or year.

Here are top software engineering skills in hot demand in the State of Virginia and the salary you can earn with it:

• Scala skilled software engineer in Virginia earns 24.30% more yearly, which is an add-on to salary of $24,372.
• Os Kernels skilled software engineer in Virginia earns 17.55% more yearly, which adds on $17,602 to salary.
• Big Data skilled software engineer in Virginia rakes in 17.35% add-on to salary yearly, which amounts to $17,402.
• Microservices skilled software engineer in Virginia earns 16.13% yearly with the skills, which translates to $16,178 add-on to salary.
• Machine Learning skilled software engineer in Virginia earns 11.71%, which is $11,745 add-on to salary yearly with the skills.
• Data Structures skilled software engineer in Virginia earns 10.99% with the skill, which gives $11,022 yearly add-on salary.

Software Engineer Salary Based on Experience in the State of Virginia

Software engineers don’t earn the same salary across board, the longer the years of experience on the job, the higher the salary earned.

Here are salaries to expect to earn as a software engineer in Virginia with number of years of experience on the job:

• Less than one year as software engineer in Virginia earns $106,553 yearly.
• 1 – 2 years as a software engineer in Virginia earns $109,472 yearly.
• 3 – 5 years as a software engineer in Virginia annually earns $90,000 yearly.
• 6 – 9 years as a software engineer in Virginia grosses home annually $125,214.
• 10+ years as a software engineer in Virginia takes an annual salary of $148,453.

10 Highest Paying Companies for Software Engineer in the State of Virginia

Virginia is home to a vast number of companies which employ a large number of software engineers.

The pay for software engineers vary in the various companies; shown below are some of the top paying companies to software engineers in the State of Virginia:

Company	Salary Yearly($)
Apple	169,027
TWINN INTELIGENCE GROUP	168,258
Fannie Mae	164,793
Facebook	158,727
Capital One	155,865
Octo Consulting Group	153,511
Juniper Network	145,627
Oracle	143,799
Zachary Piper Solutions	142,746
Cisco	132,492

More Benefits for Software Engineers in the State of Virginia

Aside getting a good pay check at the end of the month, software engineers in Virginia also get incentives added to their salaries monthly or yearly.

Below are some of the major incentives software engineers are expected to get working and living in the State of Virginia:

• Stock options. Stocks may be issued to software engineers in the State of Virginia as incentive to encourage engineers to give their best to their companies.
• Commuter assistance. Companies in Virginia commonly provide software engineers in their employment some assistance in getting to work and back home. This helps to increase the engineers’ productivity.
• Health savings. A healthy software engineer in Virginia is a great asset to their employers, therefore, most engineers are given a health savings scheme to help them fight the stress of work and other emotional issues that may arise due to work related activities.
• Vision insurance. The vision is a software engineer’s greatest asset. Most companies in Virginia provide vision insurance to their software engineers who constantly stare at the computer screen, to help maintain their vision.
• Food provision. Most times the software engineer finds it difficult to even go shopping due to the busy nature of their work. For this reason, some companies in Virginia provide food support to their engineers.

What Related Jobs Titles to Software Engineer Earn in the State of Virginia

Here are related job titles to software engineers in the State of Virginia and their salaries:

• Full stack developer in Virginia grosses a yearly take home of $114,509.
• Frontend developer takes home in Virginia a yearly income of $113,914.
• Backend developer in Virginia earns $98,406 yearly salary.
• Application developer in Virginia earns $97,406 yearly salary.
•  Developer in Virginia takes home $95,269 as yearly salary.

How to Increase your Salary as a Software Engineer in the State of Virginia

If you are a software engineer in Virginia who desires to earn more salary, you can apply the following ideas:

• Relocate. Is your city amongst the top paying cities for software engineers in Virginia? If it’s not, then you can consider moving to a State that pays higher salary.
• Get a good degree. How qualified are you in your career? If you don’t have a degree, you may set out to get one as soon as possible; this will help you to rise in your career and earn a higher salary.
• Acquire valuable skills. Your chances of increasing your salary as a software engineer in Virginia are higher if you developed valuable skills such as the ones shown above.
• Work for high paying companies. Companies pay differently, so if you want to increase your salary as a software engineer in the State of Virginia, what you can do is to work for a company that pays more salary than the one you are currently working for. See a list of the highest paying companies for software engineers in Virginia.
• Network with other professionals. Networking with professional colleagues can help you with valuable contacts and information that can help you land a better paying job or project.

More Career Opportunities for Software Engineers in the State of Virginia

Software engineers in Virginia can also explore other career areas, applying their skills and experience.

Shown below are major career opportunities with salaries they can earn that software engineers in Virginia can also get into:

• Robotics engineers in Virginia earn $123,000 yearly.
• Chemical engineers in Virginia earn $112,000 yearly.
• Information security analyst engineers in Virginia earn $109,000 yearly.
• Games artist engineers earn $105,000 yearly.
• Electrical artist engineers in Virginia earn $104,000 yearly.

Conclusion

Virginia is a State that pays high salaries to software engineers, up to $100,200 yearly.  

However, it is also a State with high living cost, so engineers thinking of living and working in Virginia should be prepared to spend a good part of their income on the basic things of life in the State.

While experienced software engineers can easily counter the effect of the high living cost of the State on their salaries, Virginia may not be a great place for entry-level software engineers to live and work.

Information sources: indeed.com, insight.dice.com, zippa.com, glassdoor.com, hackreactor.com, and careerexplorer.com.