Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between environmental protection specialists and field technician engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become an environmental protection specialist, becoming a field technician engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an environmental protection specialist has an average salary of $59,771, which is higher than the $50,370 average annual salary of a field technician engineer.
The top three skills for an environmental protection specialist include hazardous waste, CFR and DOD. The most important skills for a field technician engineer are preventive maintenance, technical support, and RF.
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Field Technician Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $59,771 | $50,370 |
| Hourly rate | $28.74 | $24.22 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 26,135 | 73,704 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Average age | 39 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
The duties of an environmental protection specialist depend on their line of work or place of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around assessing and determining the level of pollution or damage in an area, gathering samples for scientific purposes, reviewing data and results, and providing recommendations to clients or government agencies. Furthermore, there are also instances where they have to summarize results and produce reports or presentations, coordinate with other specialists and scientists, and develop programs or projects to raise environmental awareness.
Field service technicians or engineers are engineering professionals who are dispatched to specific locations to perform several tasks such as maintenance, service repairs, and installing electrical and engineering equipment products. These engineers are required to effectively communicate with their customers about their concerns related to equipment maintenance and repair so that they address them immediately. They must travel to customer sites to conduct survey and document existing field conditions and installation accuracy. Field service engineers must also conduct training for service technicians and operators at dealer and customer locations.
Environmental protection specialists and field technician engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Field Technician Engineer | |
| Average salary | $59,771 | $50,370 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $91,000 | Between $33,000 And $76,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Los Angeles, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Booz Allen Hamilton | Medtronic |
| Best paying industry | Government | Energy |
There are a few differences between an environmental protection specialist and a field technician engineer in terms of educational background:
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Field Technician Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 55% |
| Most common major | Environmental Science | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Duke University | Northeastern University |
Here are the differences between environmental protection specialists' and field technician engineers' demographics:
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Field Technician Engineer | |
| Average age | 39 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.6% Female, 38.4% | Male, 92.3% Female, 7.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 6.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 81.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 6.0% Hispanic or Latino, 17.1% Asian, 10.4% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 8% |