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The differences between instrumentation engineers and instrumentation & control engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an instrumentation engineer and an instrumentation & control engineer. Additionally, an instrumentation & control engineer has an average salary of $92,464, which is higher than the $88,783 average annual salary of an instrumentation engineer.
The top three skills for an instrumentation engineer include PLC, autocad and analyzers. The most important skills for an instrumentation & control engineer are PLC, HMI, and SCADA.
| Instrumentation Engineer | Instrumentation & Control Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,783 | $92,464 |
| Hourly rate | $42.68 | $44.45 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 45,735 | 51,065 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An instrumentation engineer specializes in designing and developing equipment to optimize business processes. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the needs of a company, coordinating with different departments to gather data, devising strategies to create new processes, and preparing reports and presentations for the executives. An instrumentation engineer mostly performs installations and repairs; they also conduct regular maintenance to ensure the efficiency of facilities. Furthermore, they must answer inquiries and resolve issues and concerns, all in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.
An instrumentation and control engineer is responsible for installing and designing technical components for engineering systems that would support production and manufacturing processes. Instrumentation and control engineers inspect control systems, modify features and infrastructure, configure controllers, and run multiple quality checks to ensure stability and optimal performance. They must have excellent communication and technical skills, especially in developing system codes and analyzing programming languages to serve control functions and development. An instrumentation and control engineer also resolves system issues and write resolution reports for reference.
Instrumentation engineers and instrumentation & control engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Instrumentation Engineer | Instrumentation & Control Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,783 | $92,464 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $119,000 | Between $70,000 And $121,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | Seattle, WA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Apple | Marathon Petroleum |
| Best paying industry | Government | Energy |
There are a few differences between an instrumentation engineer and an instrumentation & control engineer in terms of educational background:
| Instrumentation Engineer | Instrumentation & Control Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between instrumentation engineers' and instrumentation & control engineers' demographics:
| Instrumentation Engineer | Instrumentation & Control Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8% | Male, 90.2% Female, 9.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 15.5% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.0% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |