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The differences between project officers and project specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a project specialist has an average salary of $65,993, which is higher than the $59,291 average annual salary of a project officer.
The top three skills for a project officer include project management, technical assistance and press releases. The most important skills for a project specialist are customer service, project management, and project proposals.
| Project Officer | Project Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $59,291 | $65,993 |
| Hourly rate | $28.51 | $31.73 |
| Growth rate | -8% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 127,352 | 99,583 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
A project officer provides vital support to a project by monitoring deadlines for each project task and closely monitors the project schedule. They work with the project manager and other team members to reach the project target. They can work in almost every field of industry, such as construction, communications, education, and even sales. They can also do administrative tasks, including arranging team meetings, file project documents to the database, and technological skills, and they report directly to the Project Manager to assess project progress and to discuss future steps.
A project specialist's role is to ensure that a project or program's completion is within the allotted time and budget. They are primarily responsible for devising plans and strategies to quicken the pace of production or processes involved, creating a comprehensive schedule, monitoring the progress and producing reports, tracking the budget and expenditures, and coordinating with all department personnel. Moreover, a project specialist may also schedule and attend meetings, all while adhering to the company's policies and standards.
Project officers and project specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Project Officer | Project Specialist | |
| Average salary | $59,291 | $65,993 |
| Salary range | Between $41,000 And $84,000 | Between $41,000 And $103,000 |
| Highest paying City | Baltimore, MD | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Rhode Island | California |
| Best paying company | Morgan Stanley | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Professional |
There are a few differences between a project officer and a project specialist in terms of educational background:
| Project Officer | Project Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between project officers' and project specialists' demographics:
| Project Officer | Project Specialist | |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.5% Female, 34.5% | Male, 46.7% Female, 53.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.0% White, 65.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 6.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 8.8% White, 70.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 11% |