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The differences between outside plant engineers and electrical project engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an outside plant engineer and an electrical project engineer. Additionally, an outside plant engineer has an average salary of $85,603, which is higher than the $84,342 average annual salary of an electrical project engineer.
The top three skills for an outside plant engineer include CAD, outside plant and OSP. The most important skills for an electrical project engineer are project management, autocad, and PLC.
| Outside Plant Engineer | Electrical Project Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $85,603 | $84,342 |
| Hourly rate | $41.16 | $40.55 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 34,742 | 67,802 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
The job of an outside plant engineer revolves around design, constructing, and maintaining plant infrastructure, engineering, and conducting route analysis of aerial and underground fiber-optic installations. Typical day-to-day duties include assisting clients in resolving issues when they arise, developing engineering plans, schedules, and costs relevant to the projects, and providing guidance on telecommunication issues. As an outside plant engineer, you need to ensure the proper installation of the infrastructure and the availability of fiber cable storage, access, and termination equipment.
Electrical Project Engineers have licensed engineers involved in a project which specifically works on electrical or electricity-related concerns. They design the electrical systems that are needed for the success of the project. They draw up these systems using software and identify the materials needed to create these. They would then develop these systems by creating them using the materials and test if their design is working. Once they validate the design works and address the project's needs, electrical project engineers would work on controlling, maintaining, and repairing these systems as needed.
Outside plant engineers and electrical project engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Outside Plant Engineer | Electrical Project Engineer | |
| Average salary | $85,603 | $84,342 |
| Salary range | Between $62,000 And $117,000 | Between $64,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Alaska |
| Best paying company | - | Amazon |
| Best paying industry | - | Hospitality |
There are a few differences between an outside plant engineer and an electrical project engineer in terms of educational background:
| Outside Plant Engineer | Electrical Project Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 70% | Bachelor's Degree, 78% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between outside plant engineers' and electrical project engineers' demographics:
| Outside Plant Engineer | Electrical Project Engineer | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.5% Female, 14.5% | Male, 92.9% Female, 7.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 14.5% White, 64.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 14.4% White, 64.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |