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The differences between problem managers and application managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both a problem manager and an application manager. Additionally, an application manager has an average salary of $122,748, which is higher than the $79,324 average annual salary of a problem manager.
The top three skills for a problem manager include infrastructure, RCA and identify trends. The most important skills for an application manager are customer service, project management, and application development.
| Problem Manager | Application Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $79,324 | $122,748 |
| Hourly rate | $38.14 | $59.01 |
| Growth rate | 16% | 16% |
| Number of jobs | 75,250 | 125,760 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
Problem Managers are responsible for managing a problem's lifecycle with the primary goal of either to minimize an incident's impact or to prevent an incident from happening. Their duties include undertaking problem registrations, performing problem prioritizations, conducting problem investigation, and implementing problem control. Besides that, they are involved in coordinating error reviews, managing problem closures as well as carry out root cause analysis in problem identifications. Problem managers also produce incident reports, execute preventative actions, and create a feedback loop to find correlations and causations of problems that occurred.
An application manager is in charge of overseeing software applications and systems within a company, ensuring efficiency and quality. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around conducting research and analysis to identify company needs, assessing existing applications to determine their strengths and weaknesses, and implementing solutions to optimize the quality of services. They may also conduct regular maintenance checks to ensure the efficiency of applications, performing corrective measures when necessary. Furthermore, as an application manager, it is essential to coordinate with the information technology staff, encouraging them to reach goals and new heights.
Problem managers and application managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Problem Manager | Application Manager | |
| Average salary | $79,324 | $122,748 |
| Salary range | Between $53,000 And $116,000 | Between $93,000 And $160,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | Roku |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a problem manager and an application manager in terms of educational background:
| Problem Manager | Application Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Carnegie Mellon University | Carnegie Mellon University |
Here are the differences between problem managers' and application managers' demographics:
| Problem Manager | Application Manager | |
| Average age | 47 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% | Male, 71.1% Female, 28.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.0% Asian, 13.2% White, 64.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 6.8% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 10.2% Asian, 13.5% White, 64.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |