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Data center technician lead vs network engineer

The differences between data center technician leads and network 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 data center technician lead and a network engineer. Additionally, a data center technician lead has an average salary of $128,891, which is higher than the $83,557 average annual salary of a network engineer.

The top three skills for a data center technician lead include infrastructure, cloud and java. The most important skills for a network engineer are switches, troubleshoot, and network infrastructure.

Data center technician lead vs network engineer overview

Data Center Technician LeadNetwork Engineer
Yearly salary$128,891$83,557
Hourly rate$61.97$40.17
Growth rate5%5%
Number of jobs118,29972,346
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Average age4343
Years of experience22

Data center technician lead vs network engineer salary

Data center technician leads and network engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Data Center Technician LeadNetwork Engineer
Average salary$128,891$83,557
Salary rangeBetween $76,000 And $217,000Between $62,000 And $111,000
Highest paying City-Menlo Park, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-The Citadel
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between data center technician lead and network engineer education

There are a few differences between a data center technician lead and a network engineer in terms of educational background:

Data Center Technician LeadNetwork Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common majorBusinessElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeStanford UniversityCalifornia State University - Long Beach

Data center technician lead vs network engineer demographics

Here are the differences between data center technician leads' and network engineers' demographics:

Data Center Technician LeadNetwork Engineer
Average age4343
Gender ratioMale, 86.9% Female, 13.1%Male, 90.6% Female, 9.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 11.8% White, 62.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage9%9%

Differences between data center technician lead and network engineer duties and responsibilities

Data center technician lead example responsibilities.

  • Recommend, engineer and manage office systems, including centralize productivity and communication systems such as e-mail and centralize desktop environments.
  • Install & setup BPCS & 3rd party ERP applications.
  • Provide first line defense by providing customer with support on hosting, HTML, FTP, POP3 issues.
  • Support various web-base applications, LAN/WAN connections and various media devices (FTP programs, PDAs and Smartphone's).
  • Set appropriate recovery model for SQL databases to maximize space used, depending on the type of data in the database.
  • Back up terabyte databases and perform restores and run consistency checks from SQL standby servers prior to making changes in production.
  • Show more

Network engineer example responsibilities.

  • Manage UCCE deployments which include CUCM, IPIVR, CVP , 3rd party reporting and CUIC.
  • Manage UNIX's projects to meet project dateline while solving daily network crisis.
  • Perform the tasks of designing, implementing, supporting, and managing networking and telecommunication infrastructure.
  • Manage all domain registrations, SSL certificate management.
  • Create locally manage and centrally manage gateways on checkpoint firewall.
  • Manage and administrate security policy and procedures for all VPN network connectivity and accounts.
  • Show more

Data center technician lead vs network engineer skills

Common data center technician lead skills
  • Infrastructure, 17%
  • Cloud, 13%
  • Java, 5%
  • Switches, 5%
  • Data Centers, 4%
  • Customer Service, 4%
Common network engineer skills
  • Switches, 7%
  • Troubleshoot, 5%
  • Network Infrastructure, 4%
  • BGP, 4%
  • OSPF, 4%
  • Lan Wan, 4%

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