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The differences between infrastructure engineers and service engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an infrastructure engineer, becoming a service engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, an infrastructure engineer has an average salary of $106,438, which is higher than the $87,151 average annual salary of a service engineer.
The top three skills for an infrastructure engineer include python, cloud and linux. The most important skills for a service engineer are customer service, infrastructure, and cloud.
| Infrastructure Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $106,438 | $87,151 |
| Hourly rate | $51.17 | $41.90 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 91,845 | 143,806 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
As an infrastructure engineer, they're responsible for designing, deploying, and maintaining the IT infrastructure using the newest technology and ensure all the systems within an organization function seamlessly. They ensure all the IT systems are updated to support the business to function effectively. It is also their job to maintain internet connections, cabling, virtualization platforms, and storage area networks. Moreover, they oversee the IT infrastructure engineer system administration middleware application servers, like Oracle Weblogic server, IBM WebSphere server, and automated workflow tools.
A service engineer is responsible for assisting the customers' concerns regarding the products and services offered by the company through technical support solutions. Service engineers conduct preventive maintenance, upgrade systems to boost optimal performance, create product manuals, record the occurring issues, perform adjustments on the systems infrastructure, identify business opportunities to generate more revenues, and analyze current market trends to meet client demands. A service engineer must have excellent communication skills, including extensive knowledge of the technology industry and network systems.
Infrastructure engineers and service engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Infrastructure Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average salary | $106,438 | $87,151 |
| Salary range | Between $76,000 And $148,000 | Between $62,000 And $122,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Credit Karma | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Retail | Technology |
There are a few differences between an infrastructure engineer and a service engineer in terms of educational background:
| Infrastructure Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between infrastructure engineers' and service engineers' demographics:
| Infrastructure Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 92.2% Female, 7.8% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.3% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 13.0% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.2% White, 69.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 5% |