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The differences between application specialists and product specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an application specialist, becoming a product specialist takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a product specialist has an average salary of $85,932, which is higher than the $84,635 average annual salary of an application specialist.
The top three skills for an application specialist include customer service, customer satisfaction and technical support. The most important skills for a product specialist are customer service, product knowledge, and sales floor.
| Application Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $84,635 | $85,932 |
| Hourly rate | $40.69 | $41.31 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 19% |
| Number of jobs | 96,980 | 103,863 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
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.
A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.
Application specialists and product specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Application Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Average salary | $84,635 | $85,932 |
| Salary range | Between $60,000 And $118,000 | Between $56,000 And $130,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | San Bruno, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | Cheniere Energy | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between an application specialist and a product specialist in terms of educational background:
| Application Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Georgia |
Here are the differences between application specialists' and product specialists' demographics:
| Application Specialist | Product Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 37 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.7% Female, 46.3% | Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 10% |