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The differences between customer engineers and special project engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a customer engineer and a special project engineer. Additionally, a customer engineer has an average salary of $101,212, which is higher than the $70,934 average annual salary of a special project engineer.
The top three skills for a customer engineer include customer service, technical problems and level agreements. The most important skills for a special project engineer are DOD, design changes, and engineering support.
| Customer Engineer | Special Project Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $101,212 | $70,934 |
| Hourly rate | $48.66 | $34.10 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 44,709 | 90,999 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A customer engineer provides technical support to organizations having issues with their products or services. Duties and responsibilities may vary depending on the sector, but generally include diagnosing and troubleshooting technical problems with products, performing tests, upgrades and diagnostics to prevent delay or downtime caused by-product issues, and keeping updated reports outlining the problems and measures taken to resolve them. A customer engineer is also responsible for discussing service contracts and their benefits with clients.
A special project engineer is in-charged in the preparation, scheduling, coordination, and monitoring of engineering projects. He/She or she should be able to establish good relationships with prospective clients to gain information on engineering requirements and delegate tasks to staff. The core skills that a special project engineer should possess include good creative ability and excellent mechanical and listening skills. Other requirements to qualify for the position include a college degree in business or mechanical engineering.
Customer engineers and special project engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Engineer | Special Project Engineer | |
| Average salary | $101,212 | $70,934 |
| Salary range | Between $77,000 And $131,000 | Between $52,000 And $95,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Newark, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Apple | |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between a customer engineer and a special project engineer in terms of educational background:
| Customer Engineer | Special Project Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between customer engineers' and special project engineers' demographics:
| Customer Engineer | Special Project Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.4% Female, 9.6% | Male, 65.9% Female, 34.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 10.3% White, 72.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 5% |