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The differences between firewall engineers 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 firewall engineer and a network engineer. Additionally, a firewall engineer has an average salary of $99,357, which is higher than the $83,557 average annual salary of a network engineer.
The top three skills for a firewall engineer include network security, cisco asa and azure. The most important skills for a network engineer are switches, troubleshoot, and network infrastructure.
| Firewall Engineer | Network Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $99,357 | $83,557 |
| Hourly rate | $47.77 | $40.17 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 39,291 | 72,346 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A firewall engineer is concerned about the safety and security of company websites from online attacks. A firewall is a safety measure to help protect the company's information infrastructure or business connected to the internet. The firewall engineer creates, develops, and maintains the company's online security and regularly checks websites for breaches, flaws in the code, and other technical things required to protect a company from outside internet attacks and hacking.
A network engineer is responsible for managing a network system, monitoring its performance, and upgrading its features to optimize performance and boost efficiency. Network engineers also create new systems, designing them based on clients' specifications and business needs. They also check network defects, perform troubleshooting, improve data security systems, and install security updates. A network engineer must have excellent knowledge of the technology industry, as well as a broad understanding of system codes, programming languages, and network configurations.
Firewall engineers and network engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Firewall Engineer | Network Engineer | |
| Average salary | $99,357 | $83,557 |
| Salary range | Between $76,000 And $128,000 | Between $62,000 And $111,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | Menlo Park, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Palo Alto Networks | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Start-up | Technology |
There are a few differences between a firewall engineer and a network engineer in terms of educational background:
| Firewall Engineer | Network Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between firewall engineers' and network engineers' demographics:
| Firewall Engineer | Network Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.4% Female, 6.6% | Male, 90.6% Female, 9.4% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.7% Asian, 13.9% White, 61.1% 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 Percentage | 9% | 9% |