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The differences between senior data center engineers and data center technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior data center engineer and a data center technician. Additionally, a senior data center engineer has an average salary of $103,215, which is higher than the $46,560 average annual salary of a data center technician.
The top three skills for a senior data center engineer include windows, vmware esxi and nexus. The most important skills for a data center technician are patients, customer service, and CLIA.
| Senior Data Center Engineer | Data Center Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $103,215 | $46,560 |
| Hourly rate | $49.62 | $22.38 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 139,255 | 139,177 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 41% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A senior data center engineer specializes in designing and developing systems and networks to optimize data center operations. It is their responsibility to set guidelines and objectives, identify and understand the needs of facilities, conduct research and analyses, develop prototypes and test structures, troubleshoot problems, perform installations and repairs, and conduct regular maintenance checks on systems. Moreover, a senior data center engineer oversees projects and leads junior engineers to reach goals, all while implementing the company's data security policies and regulations.
A data center technician is an information technology (IT) professional who ensures the optimal performance of data servers and network of a data center. Datacenter technicians are required to protect company data by preventing the overheating of data center components and replace failing parts promptly. They need to collaborate with software and network engineers to work on the organization's cybersecurity and network efficiency. Datacenter technicians must keep track of developing trends in data center technologies and provide advice about the procurement of new data center equipment.
Senior data center engineers and data center technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Data Center Engineer | Data Center Technician | |
| Average salary | $103,215 | $46,560 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $140,000 | Between $28,000 And $74,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Piscataway, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Idaho | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | CDW | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Energy |
There are a few differences between a senior data center engineer and a data center technician in terms of educational background:
| Senior Data Center Engineer | Data Center Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 55% | Bachelor's Degree, 41% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northeastern University | - |
Here are the differences between senior data center engineers' and data center technicians' demographics:
| Senior Data Center Engineer | Data Center Technician | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 97.9% Female, 2.1% | Male, 73.1% Female, 26.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 11.0% White, 62.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 8.7% White, 64.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |