Senior switch technician vs network administrator

The differences between senior switch technicians and 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 switch technician and a network administrator. Additionally, a senior switch technician has an average salary of $91,510, which is higher than the $71,357 average annual salary of a network administrator.

The top three skills for a senior switch technician include switches, test equipment and RF. The most important skills for a network administrator are switches, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Senior switch technician vs network administrator overview

	Senior Switch Technician	Network Administrator
Yearly salary	$91,510	$71,357
Hourly rate	$44.00	$34.31
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	13,113	106,886
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Senior switch technician vs network administrator salary

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

	Senior Switch Technician	Network Administrator
Average salary	$91,510	$71,357
Salary range	Between $66,000 And $125,000	Between $56,000 And $90,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Google
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between senior switch technician and network administrator education

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

	Senior Switch Technician	Network Administrator
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Senior switch technician vs network administrator demographics

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

	Senior Switch Technician	Network Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2%	Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 8.8% White, 64.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 8.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 9.6% White, 63.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between senior switch technician and network administrator duties and responsibilities

Senior switch technician example responsibilities.

Assist in managing CDMA network, Voice/EVDO circuit's layouts, CDM circuit inventory and roll over's for cell sites.
Test, turn-up, and performance monitoring of transport circuits including Ethernet, OC-N, T1, and T3.
Work extensively with Tellabs and Alcatel 5500 , 1630 , 1631, CS1L , 532 and Tadiran DACS.
Install, test, provision and turn up DS1, E1, DS3, E3, OC3 and OC12 circuits.
Participate in a role on Ericsson's LTE eNODE-B integrations.
Turn up DS3 and DS1 circuits - perform hot cuts during maintenance window.

Network administrator example responsibilities.

Lead and manage desktop standards project.
Manage backups using EMC Networker and Avamar.
Manage Solarwinds to monitor servers and networks for all locations.
Manage all provisioning and technical issues for new customer IP blocks.
Deploy and manage storage (windows file servers and NetApp NAS).
Manage all technology: Novell, Microsoft, Cisco, email, library, labs, dorms, programs

Senior switch technician vs network administrator skills

Common senior switch technician skills

Switches, 16%
Test Equipment, 9%
RF, 7%
T1, 6%
AC, 6%
DS3, 3%

Common network administrator skills

Switches, 7%
Windows Server, 6%
Troubleshoot, 5%
Network Hardware, 5%
Routers, 4%
Lan Wan, 4%

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Senior Switch Technician vs Network Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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