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The differences between environmental protection specialists and specialists 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 specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, an environmental protection specialist has an average salary of $59,771, which is higher than the $58,013 average annual salary of a specialist.
The top three skills for an environmental protection specialist include hazardous waste, CFR and DOD. The most important skills for a specialist are patients, customer service, and work ethic.
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $59,771 | $58,013 |
| Hourly rate | $28.74 | $27.89 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 26,135 | 358,433 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| 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.
Specialists are employees who are responsible for specific tasks or activities in the department they are assigned to. The actions or tasks they work on are related to their educational background or work experiences. They are usually highly skilled in specializations related to the work they are assigned to. Specialists are also highly trained on the competencies that are required of their specialty. As such, they are focused on the skills and competencies that are needed to enhance their experience in their specific field further.
Environmental protection specialists and specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average salary | $59,771 | $58,013 |
| Salary range | Between $39,000 And $91,000 | Between $32,000 And $104,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Booz Allen Hamilton | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Government | - |
There are a few differences between an environmental protection specialist and a specialist in terms of educational background:
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Environmental Science | Business |
| Most common college | Duke University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between environmental protection specialists' and specialists' demographics:
| Environmental Protection Specialist | Specialist | |
| Average age | 39 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.6% Female, 38.4% | Male, 47.5% Female, 52.5% |
| 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, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 11% |