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Operations engineer vs service engineer

The differences between operations engineers and service engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an operations engineer and a service engineer. Additionally, an operations engineer has an average salary of $91,522, which is higher than the $87,151 average annual salary of a service engineer.

The top three skills for an operations engineer include python, cloud and AWS. The most important skills for a service engineer are customer service, infrastructure, and cloud.

Operations engineer vs service engineer overview

Operations EngineerService Engineer
Yearly salary$91,522$87,151
Hourly rate$44.00$41.90
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs155,188143,806
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Average age4141
Years of experience66

What does an operations engineer do?

An operations engineer is an individual who is responsible for ensuring that the operations of a company are working properly in industries such as manufacturing or shipping. Operations engineers are required to handle repairs or upgrades to the company's machinery and coordinate with department heads to assist in fine-tuning their operations system. When they have upgraded their system, operations engineers should conduct training with managers as well as employees and other workers. They are also required to examine machinery for defects and communicate maintenance schedules with department heads.

What does a service engineer do?

A service engineer is responsible for assisting the customers' concerns regarding the products and services offered by the company through technical support solutions. Service engineers conduct preventive maintenance, upgrade systems to boost optimal performance, create product manuals, record the occurring issues, perform adjustments on the systems infrastructure, identify business opportunities to generate more revenues, and analyze current market trends to meet client demands. A service engineer must have excellent communication skills, including extensive knowledge of the technology industry and network systems.

Operations engineer vs service engineer salary

Operations engineers and service engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Operations EngineerService Engineer
Average salary$91,522$87,151
Salary rangeBetween $63,000 And $132,000Between $62,000 And $122,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateCaliforniaCalifornia
Best paying companyAppleThe Citadel
Best paying industryTechnologyTechnology

Differences between operations engineer and service engineer education

There are a few differences between an operations engineer and a service engineer in terms of educational background:

Operations EngineerService Engineer
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 62%Bachelor's Degree, 57%
Most common majorMechanical EngineeringElectrical Engineering
Most common collegeMichigan Technological UniversityMichigan Technological University

Operations engineer vs service engineer demographics

Here are the differences between operations engineers' and service engineers' demographics:

Operations EngineerService Engineer
Average age4141
Gender ratioMale, 89.9% Female, 10.1%Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.2% White, 69.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage5%5%

Differences between operations engineer and service engineer duties and responsibilities

Operations engineer example responsibilities.

  • Design, implement, and manage an enterprise class DNS and DHCP solution.
  • Used bug tracking tool JIRA to manage and track all the bugs by creating bug tickets.
  • Manage network cabling and server racking for both Ethernet and optical configurations for SAN and EMC.
  • Manage VMWARE ESXi servers to allocate virtual resources to developers, QA team and maximize the performances.
  • Create LabVIEW programs to automate test and characterization of optical components, perform testing, and analyze data.
  • Contribute PowerShell functions to a PowerShell module used to automate software upgrades.
  • Show more

Service engineer example responsibilities.

  • Lead FDA remediation upgrade of medical infusion pumps used in hospitals and clinics nationwide.
  • Expand responsibilities include testing applications on newly update managed desktop image.
  • Manage RF servers and performing network troubleshooting and preventative maintenance on network elements.
  • Manage Jenkins security by providing specific access to authorize developers/testers using project base matrix authorization strategy.
  • Develop Perl scripts to automate object model and functional mapping into the application metadata and database.
  • Perform installations of operating systems such as VMWARE, Linux and windows.
  • Show more

Operations engineer vs service engineer skills

Common operations engineer skills
  • Python, 9%
  • Cloud, 6%
  • AWS, 5%
  • Linux, 5%
  • Troubleshoot, 5%
  • HVAC, 4%
Common service engineer skills
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Infrastructure, 7%
  • Cloud, 7%
  • Technical Support, 5%
  • Java, 4%
  • Database, 4%

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