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The differences between implementation engineers and solutions engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an implementation engineer and a solutions engineer. Additionally, a solutions engineer has an average salary of $95,482, which is higher than the $88,779 average annual salary of an implementation engineer.
The top three skills for an implementation engineer include java, troubleshoot and infrastructure. The most important skills for a solutions engineer are cloud, pre sales, and java.
| Implementation Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,779 | $95,482 |
| Hourly rate | $42.68 | $45.90 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 91,303 | 123,287 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
An implementation engineer is responsible for evaluating the company's technology solutions to support business operations and processes. Implementation engineers assist with the overall technical design concept and diagnostic tests to ensure that the features and performance meet the highest quality standards and business requirements. They also identify the systems' potential failures and develop troubleshooting reports as necessary. An implementation engineer must have excellent communication and technical skills to strategize improvements on the systems' infrastructure for optimization.
A solutions engineer is an individual who assists customers in identifying their computer software needs and generates customized business software solutions for them. Solutions engineers collaborate with other department engineers to create practical demonstrations of proposed solutions and showcase them to the other members of the team. They are required to test the installed software and fix programming bugs that create errors with the system. Solutions engineers also maintain customer relations by providing post-installation follow-ups.
Implementation engineers and solutions engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Implementation Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,779 | $95,482 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $121,000 | Between $68,000 And $134,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | ByteDance |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Start-up |
There are a few differences between an implementation engineer and a solutions engineer in terms of educational background:
| Implementation Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between implementation engineers' and solutions engineers' demographics:
| Implementation Engineer | Solutions Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.7% Female, 16.3% | Male, 85.1% Female, 14.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.7% White, 74.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.9% Asian, 10.8% White, 74.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |