Network operations analyst vs network engineer

The differences between network operations analysts and 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 operations analyst and a network engineer. Additionally, a network engineer has an average salary of $83,557, 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 engineer are switches, troubleshoot, and network infrastructure.

Network operations analyst vs network engineer overview

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Engineer
Yearly salary	$67,814	$83,557
Hourly rate	$32.60	$40.17
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	114,075	72,346
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
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 engineer do?

A network engineer is responsible for managing a network system, monitoring its performance, and upgrading its features to optimize performance and boost efficiency. Network engineers also create new systems, designing them based on clients' specifications and business needs. They also check network defects, perform troubleshooting, improve data security systems, and install security updates. A network engineer must have excellent knowledge of the technology industry, as well as a broad understanding of system codes, programming languages, and network configurations.

Network operations analyst vs network engineer salary

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

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Engineer
Average salary	$67,814	$83,557
Salary range	Between $50,000 And $91,000	Between $62,000 And $111,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Menlo Park, CA
Highest paying state	California	California
Best paying company	BP America Inc	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Utilities	Technology

Differences between network operations analyst and network engineer education

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

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Engineer
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 55%	Bachelor's Degree, 62%
Most common major	Business	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	California State University - Long Beach

Network operations analyst vs network engineer demographics

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

	Network Operations Analyst	Network Engineer
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 80.6% Female, 19.4%	Male, 90.6% Female, 9.4%
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, 7.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.7% White, 61.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between network operations analyst and network engineer 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 engineer example responsibilities.

Manage UCCE deployments which include CUCM, IPIVR, CVP , 3rd party reporting and CUIC.
Manage UNIX's projects to meet project dateline while solving daily network crisis.
Perform the tasks of designing, implementing, supporting, and managing networking and telecommunication infrastructure.
Manage all domain registrations, SSL certificate management.
Create locally manage and centrally manage gateways on checkpoint firewall.
Manage and administrate security policy and procedures for all VPN network connectivity and accounts.

Network operations analyst vs network engineer skills

Common network operations analyst skills

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

Common network engineer skills

Switches, 7%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Infrastructure, 4%
BGP, 4%
OSPF, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

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Network Operations Analyst vs Network Engineer

Updated January 8, 2025

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