Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between cyber security engineers and analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a cyber security engineer, becoming an analyst takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a cyber security engineer has an average salary of $99,492, which is higher than the $73,007 average annual salary of an analyst.
The top three skills for a cyber security engineer include cyber security, python and linux. The most important skills for an analyst are customer service, troubleshoot, and data analysis.
| Cyber Security Engineer | Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $99,492 | $73,007 |
| Hourly rate | $47.83 | $35.10 |
| Growth rate | 32% | 11% |
| Number of jobs | 73,419 | 253,138 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 4 |
A cyber security engineer specializes in designing and establishing security measures to protect a company's network and data from hackers or cyber attacks. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around planning and implementing cyber security systems, responding to any problems or concerns, handling security breaches and emergencies, and troubleshooting to identify any issues or vulnerabilities. Moreover, a cyber security engineer may perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and documentation, creating instructional materials for systems, managing schedules, and coordinating with department managers, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
Analysts are employees or individual contributors with a vast experience in a particular field that help the organization address challenges. They help the organization improve processes, policies, and other operations protocol by studying the current processes in place and determining the effectiveness of those processes. They also research industry trends and data to make sound inferences and recommendations on what the company should do to improve their numbers. Analysts recommend business solutions and often help the organization roll out these solutions. They ensure that the proposed action plans are effective and produce the desired results.
Cyber security engineers and analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Cyber Security Engineer | Analyst | |
| Average salary | $99,492 | $73,007 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $131,000 | Between $53,000 And $99,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Dotdash | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a cyber security engineer and an analyst in terms of educational background:
| Cyber Security Engineer | Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between cyber security engineers' and analysts' demographics:
| Cyber Security Engineer | Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.8% Female, 16.2% | Male, 52.4% Female, 47.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 7.4% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 8.5% Asian, 14.3% White, 65.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 12% |