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The differences between consultant systems engineers and systems support engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a consultant systems engineer and a systems support engineer. Additionally, a consultant systems engineer has an average salary of $112,898, which is higher than the $82,561 average annual salary of a systems support engineer.
The top three skills for a consultant systems engineer include infrastructure, cloud and pre sales. The most important skills for a systems support engineer are linux, troubleshoot, and technical support.
| Consultant Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $112,898 | $82,561 |
| Hourly rate | $54.28 | $39.69 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 144,261 | 182,434 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A consultant systems engineer specializes in designing and developing systems to optimize business operations, recommending solutions against problem areas. Among their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing data to identify the needs of operations, designing prototypes and test structures, performing research and analysis to determine the ideal practices, assessing existing systems to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and establishing guidelines. Moreover, a consultant systems engineer must maintain an active communication line with staff, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
Systems support engineers are information technology professionals who are responsible for building and maintaining the IT infrastructure of an organization. They are required to provide network administration and technical support to identify complex problem issues and come up with solutions to solve them. They must assist the system support engineers in accomplishing any projects they are working with. They must troubleshoot servers, personal computers, and peripheral equipment while liaising with their customers. They must also create and maintain user accounts and implement group policy management through an active directory.
Consultant systems engineers and systems support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Consultant Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $112,898 | $82,561 |
| Salary range | Between $90,000 And $141,000 | Between $62,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Novato, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Fortinet | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a consultant systems engineer and a systems support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Consultant Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between consultant systems engineers' and systems support engineers' demographics:
| Consultant Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9% | Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.7% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 11.5% White, 62.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |