Network operations analyst vs network administrator

The differences between network operations analysts 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 operations analyst and a network administrator. Additionally, a network administrator has an average salary of $71,357, which is higher than the $67,814 average annual salary of a network operations analyst.

The top three skills for a network operations analyst include network operations, troubleshoot and switches. The most important skills for a network administrator are switches, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Network operations analyst vs network administrator overview

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Administrator
Yearly salary	$67,814	$71,357
Hourly rate	$32.60	$34.31
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	114,075	106,886
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does a network operations analyst do?

Network operations analysts are information technology (IT) professionals who provide technical analysis on the issues and outages occurring across the network system of an organization. These analysts must manage the organization's technical teams to provide timely response to all incidents, outages, and performance alerts while categorizing those issues. They are required to review performance for various systems and report any trends in hardware and application performance to their assist senior technical personnel. Network operations analysts must also notify their clients and third-party service providers about issues and remediation status.

What does a network administrator do?

A network administrator is responsible for managing an organization's computer systems, ensuring its smooth operations and highest efficiency. Network administrators' duties include inspecting network malfunctions, troubleshooting unresponsive programs, improving system processes, analyzing client's specifications, upgrading existing applications, coordinating with the technology department, and creating a report of network issues resolutions. A network administrator should display a strong command of programming languages. Extensive knowledge in the technology industry and analytical and problem-solving skills to manage network problems immediately is also necessary.

Network operations analyst vs network administrator salary

Network operations analysts and network administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Administrator
Average salary	$67,814	$71,357
Salary range	Between $50,000 And $91,000	Between $56,000 And $90,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	California	Washington
Best paying company	BP America Inc	Google
Best paying industry	Utilities	Finance

Differences between network operations analyst and network administrator education

There are a few differences between a network operations analyst and a network administrator in terms of educational background:

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Network operations analyst vs network administrator demographics

Here are the differences between network operations analysts' and network administrators' demographics:

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 80.6% Female, 19.4%	Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.5% White, 63.6% 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 operations analyst and network administrator duties and responsibilities

Network operations analyst example responsibilities.

Coordinate and manage all vendor quotes per SLA to meet business needs.
Manage site to site VPN connectivity and configuration as well as DMZ configuration.
Manage technicians to perform circuit upgrades on Cisco routers and upgrades to voice over IP (VOIP).
Select to train on a new customer database system to facilitate managing client telecommunication data.
Monitor and perform root cause analysis on issues with corporate loop, distribution switches, and Internet routers.
Maintain the availability and support of UNIX, NT WIN2000 and WIN2003, and LINUX server operating systems.

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 operations analyst vs network administrator skills

Common network operations analyst skills

Network Operations, 10%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Switches, 4%
Linux, 4%
Remedy, 4%
Routers, 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 Operations Analyst vs Network Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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