Senior network technician vs hardware technician

The differences between senior network technicians and hardware 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 network technician and a hardware technician. Additionally, a senior network technician has an average salary of $49,896, which is higher than the $47,851 average annual salary of a hardware technician.

The top three skills for a senior network technician include switches, troubleshoot and routers. The most important skills for a hardware technician are customer service, technical support, and network printers.

Senior network technician vs hardware technician overview

	Senior Network Technician	Hardware Technician
Yearly salary	$49,896	$47,851
Hourly rate	$23.99	$23.01
Growth rate	5%	10%
Number of jobs	39,288	85,174
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	43	42
Years of experience	2	2

Senior network technician vs hardware technician salary

Senior network technicians and hardware technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Network Technician	Hardware Technician
Average salary	$49,896	$47,851
Salary range	Between $31,000 And $78,000	Between $32,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	Redmond, WA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Delaware
Best paying company	Microsoft	Apple
Best paying industry	Technology	Technology

Differences between senior network technician and hardware technician education

There are a few differences between a senior network technician and a hardware technician in terms of educational background:

	Senior Network Technician	Hardware Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Computer Science	Computer Science
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	University of Pennsylvania

Senior network technician vs hardware technician demographics

Here are the differences between senior network technicians' and hardware technicians' demographics:

	Senior Network Technician	Hardware Technician
Average age	43	42
Gender ratio	Male, 85.5% Female, 14.5%	Male, 90.0% Female, 10.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 64.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 12.0% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	9%	11%

Differences between senior network technician and hardware technician duties and responsibilities

Senior network technician example responsibilities.

Manage 10 servers , 2 UNIX , 6 Win2k3 and 2 Win2k.
Set up and manage firewall and content base web filtering.
Recommend, engineer and manage office systems, including centralize productivity and communication systems such as e-mail and centralize desktop environments.
Connect and configure LAN and WLAN networks and perform security updates on network devices and routers.
Train customer s employees on network protocols such as TCP/IP EGIRP, BGP, SNA, OSPF.
Implement wide area network solution using VPN and MPLS technologies to interconnect remote offices.

Hardware technician example responsibilities.

Manage resource allocation and work scheduling for UNIX restatement administrators across all the shifts.
Manage all customer network equipment including routers, switches, WLC's, AP's, and firewalls.
Manage trouble ticket queues in order to keep tickets within SLA's and to expedite high level issues.
Work to troubleshoot OS and hardware issue on many computers and peripherals.
Test and troubleshoot: reset bios and perform power-on-self-test on servers and PCs, perform power on tests on various electronics.
Update LAN spreadsheets with appropriate computer information.

Senior network technician vs hardware technician skills

Common senior network technician skills

Switches, 9%
Troubleshoot, 8%
Routers, 5%
Network Hardware, 4%
Windows Server, 4%
Network Security, 3%

Common hardware technician skills

Customer Service, 6%
Technical Support, 5%
Network Printers, 5%
Desktop Support, 5%
Test Equipment, 4%
Switches, 4%

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Senior Network Technician
Senior Network Technician vs Hardware Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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