Data storage specialist vs network administrator

The differences between data storage specialists and network administrators 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 storage specialist and a network administrator. Additionally, a network administrator has an average salary of $71,357, which is higher than the $64,094 average annual salary of a data storage specialist.

The top three skills for a data storage specialist include data storage, architecture and performance issues. The most important skills for a network administrator are switches, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Data storage specialist vs network administrator overview

	Data Storage Specialist	Network Administrator
Yearly salary	$64,094	$71,357
Hourly rate	$30.81	$34.31
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	70,296	106,886
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Data storage specialist vs network administrator salary

Data storage specialists and network administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Data Storage Specialist	Network Administrator
Average salary	$64,094	$71,357
Salary range	Between $32,000 And $125,000	Between $56,000 And $90,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Google
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between data storage specialist and network administrator education

There are a few differences between a data storage specialist and a network administrator in terms of educational background:

	Data Storage Specialist	Network Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	-	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Data storage specialist vs network administrator demographics

Here are the differences between data storage specialists' and network administrators' demographics:

	Data Storage Specialist	Network Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 79.6% Female, 20.4%	Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 11.1% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 9.6% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between data storage specialist and network administrator duties and responsibilities

Data storage specialist example responsibilities.

Deploy and manage EMC CLARiiON storage system.
Engage in managing SnapMirror performance management, fine-tuning.
Live host migrations (HP-UX / AIX / Linux) across arrays and switches.
Work with storage provisioning on VMAX, DMX-3, DMX-4 using SYMCLI, SMC, CLARiiON CX4-960 storage arrays using Unisphere.
Configure and allocate storage on EMC VMAX, DMX-4 / DMX-3, using SYMCLI, Unisphere.
Verify iscsi group and check the authentication.

Network administrator example responsibilities.

Lead and manage desktop standards project.
Manage backups using EMC Networker and Avamar.
Manage Solarwinds to monitor servers and networks for all locations.
Manage all provisioning and technical issues for new customer IP blocks.
Deploy and manage storage (windows file servers and NetApp NAS).
Manage all technology: Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, email, library, labs, dorms, programs

Data storage specialist vs network administrator skills

Common data storage specialist skills

Data Storage, 16%
Architecture, 10%
Performance Issues, 9%
EMC, 9%
Capacity Planning, 8%
Provisioning, 7%

Common network administrator skills

Switches, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Hardware, 5%
Routers, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

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Data Storage Specialist vs Network Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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