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Information technology contractor vs information technology specialist

The differences between information technology contractors and information technology specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an information technology contractor and an information technology specialist. Additionally, an information technology specialist has an average salary of $81,241, 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 specialist are customer service, troubleshoot, and computer system.

Information technology contractor vs information technology specialist overview

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Specialist
Yearly salary$72,515$81,241
Hourly rate$34.86$39.06
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs125,316122,519
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Average age4242
Years of experience22

Information technology contractor vs information technology specialist salary

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

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Specialist
Average salary$72,515$81,241
Salary rangeBetween $42,000 And $122,000Between $58,000 And $113,000
Highest paying City-San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state-California
Best paying company-Google
Best paying industry-Technology

Differences between information technology contractor and information technology specialist education

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

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 52%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Information technology contractor vs information technology specialist demographics

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

Information Technology ContractorInformation Technology Specialist
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 86.3% Female, 13.7%Male, 77.8% Female, 22.2%
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, 12.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 11.9% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between information technology contractor and information technology specialist 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 specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage VmWare servers across the network to include patches, upgrades, move and cloning.
  • Manage devices by configuring network topology and making DNS records updates/creation.
  • Manage the configuration and performance management of all PC systems and telecommunications.
  • Perform second tier help desk support for U.S. Treasury web-base financial management system.
  • Learned Linux troubleshooting as well as basic HTML, CSS as well as learning the very base of SQL and PHP.
  • Assist with data cabling, setting up router, switches, WAP systems on LAN.
  • Show more

Information technology contractor vs information technology specialist skills

Common information technology contractor skills
  • Desk Support, 12%
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • PC, 10%
  • Network Printers, 7%
  • Troubleshoot, 5%
  • POS, 3%
Common information technology specialist skills
  • Customer Service, 24%
  • Troubleshoot, 10%
  • Computer System, 7%
  • Database, 5%
  • DOD, 5%
  • System Software, 4%

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