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The differences between network security specialists and network consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a network security specialist, becoming a network consultant takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a network consultant has an average salary of $89,303, which is higher than the $82,206 average annual salary of a network security specialist.
The top three skills for a network security specialist include network security, incident response and IDS. The most important skills for a network consultant are appeals, firewall, and windows server.
| Network Security Specialist | Network Consultant | |
| Yearly salary | $82,206 | $89,303 |
| Hourly rate | $39.52 | $42.93 |
| Growth rate | 32% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 82,646 | 58,194 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
A Network Security Specialist is a person who oversees computer networks to find security threats or unauthorized users. Their responsibilities include: identifying compromised machines, creating briefs of security measures taken, identifying possible security risks, determining the proper procedure to address the risks, assessing software that security aid, and researching security devices to get proper information on installation, audit-related information, and disaster recovery plans.
Network consultants are information technology (IT) professionals who are responsible for designing, setting up, and maintaining computer networks for an organization or at a client location. These consultants are required to meet with the manager of an organization and network engineers to discuss their networking requirements. By supervising a team of IT professionals, these consultants must administer technical issues and fix infrastructure issues onsite. Network consultants must also maintain documentation for IT infrastructure as well as coordinate network documentation with account managers.
Network security specialists and network consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Network Security Specialist | Network Consultant | |
| Average salary | $82,206 | $89,303 |
| Salary range | Between $60,000 And $112,000 | Between $60,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sunnyvale, CA | Mountain View, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | JPMorgan Chase & Co. | Dell |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a network security specialist and a network consultant in terms of educational background:
| Network Security Specialist | Network Consultant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between network security specialists' and network consultants' demographics:
| Network Security Specialist | Network Consultant | |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4% | Male, 87.0% Female, 13.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.2% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 9.6% White, 65.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 11.3% White, 61.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |