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Electronics engineer vs senior electronics technician

The differences between electronics engineers and senior electronics technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an electronics engineer, becoming a senior electronics technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an electronics engineer has an average salary of $93,985, which is higher than the $61,776 average annual salary of a senior electronics technician.

The top three skills for an electronics engineer include analog, RF and power electronics. The most important skills for a senior electronics technician are RF, technical support, and analog.

Electronics engineer vs senior electronics technician overview

Electronics EngineerSenior Electronics Technician
Yearly salary$93,985$61,776
Hourly rate$45.19$29.70
Growth rate3%-
Number of jobs83,87068,281
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Associate Degree, 58%
Average age4550
Years of experience612

What does an electronics engineer do?

An electronics engineer specializes in designing and developing electronic components and systems, ensuring efficiency in all aspects. They are primarily responsible for conducting tests and maintenance for systems, identifying any faults or inconsistencies, and performing corrective measures right away. Moreover, an electronics engineer must coordinate with clients to consult them on their needs and meet with other skilled engineers to ensure optimal quality of equipment. An electronics engineer may also perform administrative tasks, mainly to produce progress reports and presentations, manage schedules, and craft instructional written materials for all electronic systems.

What does a senior electronics technician do?

A Senior Electronics Technician organizes and directs the operations of an electronics shop. They develop and document test processes for electronic equipment.

Electronics engineer vs senior electronics technician salary

Electronics engineers and senior electronics technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

Electronics EngineerSenior Electronics Technician
Average salary$93,985$61,776
Salary rangeBetween $68,000 And $129,000Between $44,000 And $85,000
Highest paying CityBerkeley, CAPleasanton, CA
Highest paying stateRhode IslandHawaii
Best paying companyMetaHalliburton
Best paying industryTechnologyEnergy

Differences between electronics engineer and senior electronics technician education

There are a few differences between an electronics engineer and a senior electronics technician in terms of educational background:

Electronics EngineerSenior Electronics Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 68%Associate Degree, 58%
Most common majorElectrical EngineeringElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeNortheastern UniversityNortheastern University

Electronics engineer vs senior electronics technician demographics

Here are the differences between electronics engineers' and senior electronics technicians' demographics:

Electronics EngineerSenior Electronics Technician
Average age4550
Gender ratioMale, 91.2% Female, 8.8%Male, 94.6% Female, 5.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.4% Asian, 15.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 8.0% White, 70.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage6%8%

Differences between electronics engineer and senior electronics technician duties and responsibilities

Electronics engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead manufacturing testing effort for VT-1 missile program.
  • Manage technicians throughout design, development, construction, testing, ISO quality assurance, and field/flight/wind tunnel test support phases.
  • Design automated lab system for troubleshooting HVAC PC boards in AMTRAK trains, to achieve shorter fault diagnostics time lab repairs.
  • Manage technicians during prototyping stage.
  • Coordinate with senior electrical engineers and achieve hands-on experience on coal fire plant power generation and power transformers, circuit breakers.
  • Interface with firmware team to define and develop custom FPGA RTL.
  • Show more

Senior electronics technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage and ensure preventative maintenance, safety, and OSHA compliance programs are meet.
  • Analyze, and troubleshoot analog, digital, audio, and RF circuits to component level in telephone circuit boards.
  • Work to ensure compliance with all OSHA, ISO, cGMP and FDA standards.
  • Experience using oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers to measure and interpret transmitter system operating parameters.
  • Perform alignments using network analyzers, scalar analyzers, spectrum analyzers, and oscilloscopes.
  • Train on ISO and IPC.
  • Show more

Electronics engineer vs senior electronics technician skills

Common electronics engineer skills
  • Analog, 6%
  • RF, 6%
  • Power Electronics, 6%
  • DOD, 4%
  • Test Equipment, 4%
  • PCB, 4%
Common senior electronics technician skills
  • RF, 9%
  • Technical Support, 5%
  • Analog, 5%
  • Ac, 4%
  • Dc, 4%
  • Oscilloscopes, 4%

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