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Information technology contractor vs information technology consultant

The differences between information technology contractors and information technology consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an information technology contractor, becoming an information technology consultant takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, an information technology consultant has an average salary of $84,790, which is higher than the $72,515 average annual salary of an information technology contractor.

The top three skills for an information technology contractor include desk support, customer service and PC. The most important skills for an information technology consultant are customer service, database, and project management.

Information technology contractor vs information technology consultant overview

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Consultant
Yearly salary$72,515$84,790
Hourly rate$34.86$40.76
Growth rate10%9%
Number of jobs125,316142,475
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age4243
Years of experience26

Information technology contractor vs information technology consultant salary

Information technology contractors and information technology consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Consultant
Average salary$72,515$84,790
Salary rangeBetween $42,000 And $122,000Between $62,000 And $115,000
Highest paying City-Seattle, WA
Highest paying state-Washington
Best paying company-California Resources
Best paying industry-Finance

Differences between information technology contractor and information technology consultant education

There are a few differences between an information technology contractor and an information technology consultant in terms of educational background:

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Information technology contractor vs information technology consultant demographics

Here are the differences between information technology contractors' and information technology consultants' demographics:

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Consultant
Average age4243
Gender ratioMale, 86.3% Female, 13.7%Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 13.9% White, 53.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 14.5% White, 58.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%
LGBT Percentage11%8%

Differences between information technology contractor and information technology consultant duties and responsibilities

Information technology contractor example responsibilities.

  • Act as liaison with on-site networking company, deploying and managing wireless access points and LAN.
  • Lead enterprise-wide virtualization effort, overseeing and completing vendor/hardware qualifications, architecture/design, installation, configuration, migration and documentation.
  • Advance knowledge of Microsoft networking and TCP/IP.
  • Set up VMware ESXi hosts for high-availability environments and reduce downtime.
  • Perform upgrades from Unix to Linux on business servers running ERP software.
  • Provide daily end-user support and troubleshooting of Citrix client and publish apps.
  • Show more

Information technology consultant example responsibilities.

  • Accomplish telecommunication design and installation consulting services on VOIP phone systems.
  • Develop functional requirements as well as managed development and quality assurance activities using a full SDLC.
  • Ensure adequate security protections for proprietary data and intellectual property; manage and configure firewalls and security posture.
  • Lead enterprise-wide virtualization effort, overseeing and completing vendor/hardware qualifications, architecture/design, installation, configuration, migration and documentation.
  • Lead disaster recovery exercises, infrastructure hardware/software decommissioning initiatives and redeployment of legacy application retirements/migrations for Fannie Mae (client).
  • Assist in deploying PC's and laptops to sales organization as well as updating the OS as necessary per laptop specifications.
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Information technology contractor vs information technology consultant skills

Common information technology contractor skills
  • Desk Support, 12%
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • PC, 10%
  • Network Printers, 7%
  • Troubleshoot, 5%
  • POS, 3%
Common information technology consultant skills
  • Customer Service, 8%
  • Database, 8%
  • Project Management, 8%
  • Cloud, 8%
  • Troubleshoot, 4%
  • Business Processes, 4%

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