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The differences between network designers and network support analysts 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 designer and a network support analyst. Additionally, a network designer has an average salary of $84,818, which is higher than the $83,921 average annual salary of a network support analyst.
The top three skills for a network designer include network design, PC and OSPF. The most important skills for a network support analyst are troubleshoot, switches, and routers.
| Network Designer | Network Support Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $84,818 | $83,921 |
| Hourly rate | $40.78 | $40.35 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 66,415 | 118,825 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Network designers are the people in an organization who assess a company's network requirements and design a network that meets the needs. The responsibilities of this position are designing and submitting plans for the network to management, making updates and upgrading the software and hardware where needed, incorporating security features into the design, configuring multiple types of connections, e.g., printers, servers and supporting specialized services like specific point virtualization through cloud computing.
Network support analysts are professionals who provide technical support as well as maintain various network components for an organization's network system. These analysts are responsible for installing and configuring local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), internet systems, and other components of network systems. They are required to monitor the performance of networks and systems and align network use and access by using master consoles. Network support analysts must also organize and deploy security measures for the network so that they can safeguard software, hardware, and data.
Network designers and network support analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Network Designer | Network Support Analyst | |
| Average salary | $84,818 | $83,921 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $115,000 | Between $54,000 And $128,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | California |
| Best paying company | AT&T | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Technology |
There are a few differences between a network designer and a network support analyst in terms of educational background:
| Network Designer | Network Support Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 53% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between network designers' and network support analysts' demographics:
| Network Designer | Network Support Analyst | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.0% Female, 13.0% | Male, 84.3% Female, 15.7% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.0% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.8% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.9% White, 62.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |