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The differences between planning engineers and senior staff engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a planning engineer, becoming a senior staff engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a senior staff engineer has an average salary of $136,031, which is higher than the $82,521 average annual salary of a planning engineer.
The top three skills for a planning engineer include project management, infrastructure and transmission planning. The most important skills for a senior staff engineer are python, java, and architecture.
| Planning Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $82,521 | $136,031 |
| Hourly rate | $39.67 | $65.40 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 56,792 | 239,752 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A planning engineer is in charge of developing plans and systems to organize and schedule project procedures, ensuring efficiency and timeliness. Their responsibilities revolve around learning and understanding the extent of all operations, setting schedules and objectives, liaising with external parties such as vendors or distributors, and maintaining an active communication line with other departments. Furthermore, a planning engineer must monitor the progress of the workflow and the performance of the workforce, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
A senior staff engineer is responsible for supervising a team of engineers, chemists, software developers, or molecular biologists. His/Her or her responsibilities include generating Structured Query Language (SQL) performance audit checklist template, creating SQL data query routines and functions for data extraction, and working directly with stakeholders. The job requires strong mechanical, listening, and mathematical skills and proficiency in Python programming language and computer architecture and hardware. The education requirements for the job include a bachelor's or master's degree in electrical engineering, business, mechanical engineering, or a related field.
Planning engineers and senior staff engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Planning Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average salary | $82,521 | $136,031 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $110,000 | Between $95,000 And $194,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | Airbnb |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Telecommunication |
There are a few differences between a planning engineer and a senior staff engineer in terms of educational background:
| Planning Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 65% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | California State Polytechnic University, Pomona |
Here are the differences between planning engineers' and senior staff engineers' demographics:
| Planning Engineer | Senior Staff Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.2% Female, 16.8% | Male, 78.4% Female, 21.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.6% White, 65.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 3.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 16.8% White, 67.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 5% |