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The differences between junior networking engineers and senior system administrators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a junior networking engineer and a senior system administrator. Additionally, a senior system administrator has an average salary of $98,146, which is higher than the $84,480 average annual salary of a junior networking engineer.
The top three skills for a junior networking engineer include switches, troubleshoot and lan. The most important skills for a senior system administrator are linux, windows server, and troubleshoot.
| Junior Networking Engineer | Senior System Administrator | |
| Yearly salary | $84,480 | $98,146 |
| Hourly rate | $40.62 | $47.19 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 44,165 | 100,873 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Junior networking engineers are entry-level information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for managing the daily activities of local and wide area network systems of an IT organization. They must collaborate with senior network engineers to develop and implement network security procedures to safeguard the organization's networking systems. They are required to perform diagnostics and schedule preventive maintenance on the network system while responding to emergency work requests. Junior networking engineers must also manage network management programs and prepare network status reports for the management.
A senior system administrator specializes in overseeing the computer system operations in an organization. Their responsibilities primarily revolve around monitoring the performance of all software and hardware, installing servers, configuring systems, and making sure every technical aspect is running smoothly. Should there be any issues, they must take charge of troubleshooting and providing solutions. As someone with more experience, a senior system administrator leads and evaluates the performances of fellow skilled professionals in the department, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations.
Junior networking engineers and senior system administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Junior Networking Engineer | Senior System Administrator | |
| Average salary | $84,480 | $98,146 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $114,000 | Between $75,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Parsons | Cambridge Associates |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a junior networking engineer and a senior system administrator in terms of educational background:
| Junior Networking Engineer | Senior System Administrator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between junior networking engineers' and senior system administrators' demographics:
| Junior Networking Engineer | Senior System Administrator | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.3% Female, 12.7% | Male, 89.0% Female, 11.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |