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The differences between senior network engineers and senior network 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 a senior network administrator. Additionally, a senior network engineer has an average salary of $111,707, which is higher than the $89,169 average annual salary of a senior network administrator.
The top three skills for a senior network engineer include switches, BGP and OSPF. The most important skills for a senior network administrator are switches, routers, and troubleshoot.
| Senior Network Engineer | Senior Network Administrator | |
| Yearly salary | $111,707 | $89,169 |
| Hourly rate | $53.71 | $42.87 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 35,428 | 110,027 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
Senior Network Administrators provide system and network solutions for their organizations. They supervise the functioning of networking equipment and follow strict maintenance standards.
Senior network engineers and senior network administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Network Engineer | Senior Network Administrator | |
| Average salary | $111,707 | $89,169 |
| Salary range | Between $85,000 And $145,000 | Between $68,000 And $115,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Mateo, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | Tesoro |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior network engineer and a senior network administrator in terms of educational background:
| Senior Network Engineer | Senior Network Administrator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 65% | Bachelor's Degree, 58% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | - | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between senior network engineers' and senior network administrators' demographics:
| Senior Network Engineer | Senior Network Administrator | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 93.2% Female, 6.8% | Male, 91.7% Female, 8.3% |
| 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, 9.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.7% Asian, 10.1% White, 62.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |