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The differences between senior project specialists and application specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a senior project specialist, becoming an application specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a senior project specialist has an average salary of $87,213, which is higher than the $84,635 average annual salary of an application specialist.
The top three skills for a senior project specialist include project management, powerpoint and status reports. The most important skills for an application specialist are customer service, customer satisfaction, and technical support.
| Senior Project Specialist | Application Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $87,213 | $84,635 |
| Hourly rate | $41.93 | $40.69 |
| Growth rate | 11% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 111,859 | 96,980 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
The job of a senior project specialist is to manage a portfolio of projects and ensure that these projects achieve quality development outcomes. You will perform a variety of duties that include providing day-to-day support to teams, preparing and reviewing requests for project-related activities, and overseeing the project's financial aspects by reviewing monthly invoices. In addition, you will monitor monthly costs and track contract expenditures against total obligated funds and budget. As a senior project specialist, it is also your responsibility to recruit short- and long-term personnel.
An application specialist is responsible for maintaining the optimal performance of system applications, ensuring smooth navigation by upgrading the features of existing applications, and performing multiple diagnostic tests before releasing the applications to the digital marketplace. Application specialists work closely with the design engineers to improve system codes, verify the efficiency of network infrastructure, and adjusting application functions based on the clients' specifications and business' needs. They should always consider the budget goals, target end-users, and current market trends to design applications, meeting users' demands and public interests.
Senior project specialists and application specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Project Specialist | Application Specialist | |
| Average salary | $87,213 | $84,635 |
| Salary range | Between $67,000 And $112,000 | Between $60,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Idaho | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Amazon | Cheniere Energy |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a senior project specialist and an application specialist in terms of educational background:
| Senior Project Specialist | Application Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between senior project specialists' and application specialists' demographics:
| Senior Project Specialist | Application Specialist | |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 50.0% Female, 50.0% | Male, 53.7% Female, 46.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 11.1% White, 55.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |