Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between product applications engineers and professional services engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a product applications engineer and a professional services engineer. Additionally, a product applications engineer has an average salary of $101,877, which is higher than the $98,091 average annual salary of a professional services engineer.
The top three skills for a product applications engineer include technical support, product line and RF. The most important skills for a professional services engineer are customer service, professional services, and java.
| Product Applications Engineer | Professional Services Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $101,877 | $98,091 |
| Hourly rate | $48.98 | $47.16 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 101,218 | 114,048 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A product applications engineer's job is to determine business needs and develop solutions with product managers and address customer queries and issues promptly. They typically address customer questions and issues in a timely manner. They communicate feedback from customers to the design team and provide post-sales support to make suitable modifications in product design. Moreover, it is part of their responsibility to evaluate new software products, check defects, conduct internal application trials for verification, and maintain accurate documentation of problems related to applications, including solutions.
Professional Services Engineers are employees who represent their company in their client's work environment. They are usually software engineers or any other information technology-related engineers. They are expected to be familiar with company's products. Professional Services Engineers act as the bridge between the company and the client. They are usually assigned to be on-site at the client's office to act as the technical representative of the company. As such, they do the installing, setting up, managing, troubleshooting, maintaining, and repairing the company's software for the client. They may also help out in product training and maximizing the user experience.
Product applications engineers and professional services engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Applications Engineer | Professional Services Engineer | |
| Average salary | $101,877 | $98,091 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $138,000 | Between $64,000 And $149,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Virginia |
| Best paying company | Gracenote | |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a product applications engineer and a professional services engineer in terms of educational background:
| Product Applications Engineer | Professional Services Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between product applications engineers' and professional services engineers' demographics:
| Product Applications Engineer | Professional Services Engineer | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.4% Female, 10.6% | Male, 57.9% Female, 42.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.4% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 6.6% Asian, 11.1% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 1.7% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 8.0% Asian, 5.8% White, 78.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |