Network design engineer vs network technician

The differences between network design engineers and network technicians 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 technician. Additionally, a network design engineer has an average salary of $101,135, which is higher than the $68,938 average annual salary of a network technician.

The top three skills for a network design engineer include network design, switches and juniper. The most important skills for a network technician are customer service, switches, and troubleshoot.

Network design engineer vs network technician overview

	Network Design Engineer	Network Technician
Yearly salary	$101,135	$68,938
Hourly rate	$48.62	$33.14
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	80,300	79,712
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Network design engineer vs network technician salary

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

	Network Design Engineer	Network Technician
Average salary	$101,135	$68,938
Salary range	Between $76,000 And $132,000	Between $51,000 And $92,000
Highest paying City	Bothell, WA	Urban Honolulu, HI
Highest paying state	Washington	Hawaii
Best paying company	Google	Apple
Best paying industry	Technology	Finance

Differences between network design engineer and network technician education

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

	Network Design Engineer	Network Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 62%	Bachelor's Degree, 50%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	Northeastern University	University of Pennsylvania

Network design engineer vs network technician demographics

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

	Network Design Engineer	Network Technician
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 85.5% Female, 14.5%	Male, 87.3% Female, 12.7%
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, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.4% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between network design engineer and network technician 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 technician example responsibilities.

Install and manage DHCP servers including setting up DHCP scopes, enabling DHCP clients, viewing and managing active leases.
Manage city wide IIS deployment.
Manage Virtualization system, using ESX server/client.
Install, configure and manage Symantec Antivirus on all network computers
Use Symantec BackupExec to manage and maintain all server backups and file restorations.
Manage company Cisco series routers, switches, and ASA firewall integrate into MPLS network.

Network design engineer vs network technician skills

Common network design engineer skills

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

Common network technician skills

Customer Service, 9%
Switches, 6%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Routers, 4%
Lan Wan, 3%
Lan, 3%

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Network Design Engineer
Network Design Engineer vs Network Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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