Network design engineer vs network administrator

The differences between network design engineers and network 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 network design engineer and a network administrator. Additionally, a network design engineer has an average salary of $101,135, which is higher than the $71,357 average annual salary of a network administrator.

The top three skills for a network design engineer include network design, switches and juniper. The most important skills for a network administrator are switches, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Network design engineer vs network administrator overview

	Network Design Engineer	Network Administrator
Yearly salary	$101,135	$71,357
Hourly rate	$48.62	$34.31
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	80,300	106,886
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Network design engineer vs network administrator salary

Network design engineers and network administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Network Design Engineer	Network Administrator
Average salary	$101,135	$71,357
Salary range	Between $76,000 And $132,000	Between $56,000 And $90,000
Highest paying City	Bothell, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	Washington
Best paying company	Google	Google
Best paying industry	Technology	Finance

Differences between network design engineer and network administrator education

There are a few differences between a network design engineer and a network administrator in terms of educational background:

	Network Design Engineer	Network Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	Northeastern University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Network design engineer vs network administrator demographics

Here are the differences between network design engineers' and network administrators' demographics:

	Network Design Engineer	Network Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 85.5% Female, 14.5%	Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 12.3% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 9.6% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between network design engineer and network administrator duties and responsibilities

Network design engineer example responsibilities.

Manage efficient T1 utilization thresholds in order to balance customer demand and budget constraints.
Implement HSRP on different location of office on the switched network and managing the entire multilayer switch network.
Utilize advanced encryption devices to secure communications between all locations manage by the department.
Experience on designing and troubleshooting of complex BGP and OSPF routing problems.
Key contributions include troubleshooting of complex LAN /WAN connectivity issues that includes EIGRP.
Configure, install and troubleshoot CISCO base networks (routers, terminal servers).

Network administrator example responsibilities.

Lead and manage desktop standards project.
Manage backups using EMC Networker and Avamar.
Manage Solarwinds to monitor servers and networks for all locations.
Manage all provisioning and technical issues for new customer IP blocks.
Deploy and manage storage (windows file servers and NetApp NAS).
Manage all technology: Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, email, library, labs, dorms, programs

Network design engineer vs network administrator skills

Common network design engineer skills

Network Design, 8%
Switches, 5%
Juniper, 4%
Routers, 4%
Network Infrastructure, 4%
Troubleshoot, 4%

Common network administrator skills

Switches, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Hardware, 5%
Routers, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

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Network Design Engineer
Network Design Engineer vs Network Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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