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The differences between grounds keepers and irrigation technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a grounds keeper and an irrigation technician. Additionally, an irrigation technician has an average salary of $35,472, which is higher than the $30,535 average annual salary of a grounds keeper.
The top three skills for a grounds keeper include GRASS, PET and lawn care. The most important skills for an irrigation technician are golf courses, trenchers, and sprinkler heads.
| Grounds Keeper | Irrigation Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $30,535 | $35,472 |
| Hourly rate | $14.68 | $17.05 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 11,534 | 27,291 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 42% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A groundskeeper's job responsibility is to maintain and modify outdoor areas such as college campuses, parks, gardens, etc. Your major duty is to carry out routine maintenance, planting, and gardening of a business or park's landscape. You may have to perform duties like mowing and maintaining lawns, planting new greenery, and trimming shrubs. Other duties you may likely carry out are watering, fertilizing, mulching, and applying pesticides. In all, the goal is to maintain the grounds of the place where you work.
An irrigation technician is responsible for installing, testing, and maintaining irrigation equipment such as sprinklers, suction valves, and pumps. Typical duties for this position include operating heavy machinery for trenching, installing wiring systems for irrigation timers, and inspecting equipment for a day's work. In addition, an irrigation technician may be required to travel to the client's location to install, test, or perform preventative maintenance of irrigation equipment. You are also expected to dig trenches and install lines and pipes and troubleshoot and replace faulty parts.
Grounds keepers and irrigation technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Grounds Keeper | Irrigation Technician | |
| Average salary | $30,535 | $35,472 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $37,000 | Between $27,000 And $45,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | Concord, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Columbia University in the City of New York | San Diego College of Continuing Education |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Construction |
There are a few differences between a grounds keeper and an irrigation technician in terms of educational background:
| Grounds Keeper | Irrigation Technician | |
| Most common degree | High School Diploma, 48% | High School Diploma, 42% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between grounds keepers' and irrigation technicians' demographics:
| Grounds Keeper | Irrigation Technician | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.1% Female, 10.9% | Male, 96.1% Female, 3.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 21.6% Asian, 2.2% White, 60.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% | Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 26.0% Asian, 2.0% White, 57.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 3% | 3% |