Senior network engineer vs information technology administrator

The differences between senior network engineers and information technology administrators 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 network engineer and an information technology administrator. Additionally, a senior network engineer has an average salary of $111,707, which is higher than the $73,195 average annual salary of an information technology administrator.

The top three skills for a senior network engineer include switches, BGP and OSPF. The most important skills for an information technology administrator are customer service, troubleshoot, and linux.

Senior network engineer vs information technology administrator overview

	Senior Network Engineer	Information Technology Administrator
Yearly salary	$111,707	$73,195
Hourly rate	$53.71	$35.19
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	35,428	159,499
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

What does a senior network engineer do?

A senior network engineer is responsible for managing the organization's network infrastructure, handling advanced network issues, upgrading the system's design for optimization, configuring network features, and ensuring the network's highest security measures to avoid unauthorized access and suspicious activities. Senior network engineers work with network architects to implement network designs, run diagnostic tests, and create network solution reports for review and recovery reference. A senior network engineer must have excellent communication and organization skills and broad knowledge of the technology industry, programming languages, and system codes.

What does an information technology administrator do?

An Information Technology (IT) administrator is an individual responsible for managing the day-to-day operation of an organization's IT systems and ensuring that the systems are running effectively. IT administrators must conduct consistent analyses of the computer system and install updates when needed. They are required to assess the organization's security programs and run the system for viruses and spyware. IT administrators also extend support to the organization's end-users and train them on desktop applications.

Senior network engineer vs information technology administrator salary

Senior network engineers and information technology administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Network Engineer	Information Technology Administrator
Average salary	$111,707	$73,195
Salary range	Between $85,000 And $145,000	Between $50,000 And $105,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	California
Best paying company	The Citadel	Databricks
Best paying industry	Finance	Finance

Differences between senior network engineer and information technology administrator education

There are a few differences between a senior network engineer and an information technology administrator in terms of educational background:

	Senior Network Engineer	Information Technology Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 65%	Bachelor's Degree, 56%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	-	Stanford University

Senior network engineer vs information technology administrator demographics

Here are the differences between senior network engineers' and information technology administrators' demographics:

	Senior Network Engineer	Information Technology Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 93.2% Female, 6.8%	Male, 81.6% Female, 18.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 13.5% White, 61.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 9.8% White, 63.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between senior network engineer and information technology administrator duties and responsibilities

Senior network engineer example responsibilities.

Manage check point firewall logs using check point tracker and splunk.
Manage network / systems security, implement policies, processes PCI, HIPAA compliance.
Manage the SAN base storage environment consisting of EMC CX3-80's and CX700's.
Design and build Cisco Meraki cloud manage firewall, switch, and wireless access points for new facility of marketing firm.
Manage network security processes using ASA firewalls.
Manage, operate and analyze results from Sourcefire detection systems.

Information technology administrator example responsibilities.

Define, document and project manage the implementation and configuration changes to HRIS applications.
Manage the migration from ADP to Lawson software; adapt HRIS to fit organizational needs.
Manage PC trainers and develop high quality internal instructor-le courses.
Manage host peripheral hardware including disk files and space utilization.
Manage and maintain corporate telecommunications and LAN; recommend repairs as needed.
Manage administration for SharePoint websites including account creation or modifying existing user accounts and site settings.

Senior network engineer vs information technology administrator skills

Common senior network engineer skills

Switches, 7%
BGP, 5%
OSPF, 5%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Infrastructure, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

Common information technology administrator skills

Customer Service, 10%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Linux, 5%
Database, 4%
VMware, 4%
Windows Server, 4%

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Senior Network Engineer vs Information Technology Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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