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The differences between network infrastructure engineers and senior network engineers 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 infrastructure engineer and a senior network engineer. Additionally, a senior network engineer has an average salary of $111,707, which is higher than the $82,895 average annual salary of a network infrastructure engineer.
The top three skills for a network infrastructure engineer include network infrastructure, switches and cloud. The most important skills for a senior network engineer are switches, BGP, and OSPF.
| Network Infrastructure Engineer | Senior Network Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $82,895 | $111,707 |
| Hourly rate | $39.85 | $53.71 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 67,606 | 35,428 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A network infrastructure engineer designs, deploy, and secures the network of the organization. In this position, you will be required to perform site surveys and audits, ensure the company's network site meets set standards, ensure the networks function with minimum downtime, come up with strategies that help minimize operational costs, and helps the organization streamline the operations by ensuring the different systems work effectively.
A senior network engineer is responsible for managing the organization's network infrastructure, handling advanced network issues, upgrading the system's design for optimization, configuring network features, and ensuring the network's highest security measures to avoid unauthorized access and suspicious activities. Senior network engineers work with network architects to implement network designs, run diagnostic tests, and create network solution reports for review and recovery reference. A senior network engineer must have excellent communication and organization skills and broad knowledge of the technology industry, programming languages, and system codes.
Network infrastructure engineers and senior network engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Network Infrastructure Engineer | Senior Network Engineer | |
| Average salary | $82,895 | $111,707 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $119,000 | Between $85,000 And $145,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a network infrastructure engineer and a senior network engineer in terms of educational background:
| Network Infrastructure Engineer | Senior Network Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | - |
Here are the differences between network infrastructure engineers' and senior network engineers' demographics:
| Network Infrastructure Engineer | Senior Network Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 92.4% Female, 7.6% | Male, 93.2% Female, 6.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.7% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.4% Asian, 12.0% White, 61.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 13.5% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |