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The differences between application administrators and application specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an application administrator and an application specialist. Additionally, an application administrator has an average salary of $100,258, which is higher than the $84,635 average annual salary of an application specialist.
The top three skills for an application administrator include troubleshoot, linux and technical support. The most important skills for an application specialist are customer service, customer satisfaction, and technical support.
| Application Administrator | Application Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $100,258 | $84,635 |
| Hourly rate | $48.20 | $40.69 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 78,004 | 96,980 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Applications administrators are information technology (IT) professionals who manage specific applications or software in a company. They are in charge of installing, updating, and maintaining their assigned application. They also troubleshoot concerns and respond to inquiries from application users. They are expected to be experts on matters related to the application. Applications administrators collect information from users and program prompts. They primarily collect data on program usage and common user concerns. This data will help application administrators identify trends in software usage and recommend solutions for software improvement.
An application specialist is responsible for maintaining the optimal performance of system applications, ensuring smooth navigation by upgrading the features of existing applications, and performing multiple diagnostic tests before releasing the applications to the digital marketplace. Application specialists work closely with the design engineers to improve system codes, verify the efficiency of network infrastructure, and adjusting application functions based on the clients' specifications and business' needs. They should always consider the budget goals, target end-users, and current market trends to design applications, meeting users' demands and public interests.
Application administrators and application specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Application Administrator | Application Specialist | |
| Average salary | $100,258 | $84,635 |
| Salary range | Between $73,000 And $137,000 | Between $60,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Cloudflare | Cheniere Energy |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between an application administrator and an application specialist in terms of educational background:
| Application Administrator | Application Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between application administrators' and application specialists' demographics:
| Application Administrator | Application Specialist | |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.0% Female, 32.0% | Male, 53.7% Female, 46.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.8% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 11.1% White, 55.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 11% |