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The differences between sustaining engineers and reliability engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a sustaining engineer and a reliability engineer. Additionally, a reliability engineer has an average salary of $105,551, which is higher than the $88,351 average annual salary of a sustaining engineer.
The top three skills for a sustaining engineer include troubleshoot, lean six sigma and lean manufacturing. The most important skills for a reliability engineer are java, troubleshoot, and ruby.
| Sustaining Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $88,351 | $105,551 |
| Hourly rate | $42.48 | $50.75 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 57,402 | 44,471 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A sustaining engineer is responsible for monitoring industrial operations, including the efficiency of processes and the performance of tools and equipment, ensuring high-quality deliverables for business objectives. Sustaining engineers evaluate the safety and security of the operations, strategizing techniques to manage potential hazards that may cause delays in the production. They also work with the management to identify opportunities to maximize productivity and maintain cost-reduction procedures, especially on materials and equipment. A sustaining engineer handles operational issues, as well as assessing incident reports for immediate resolution.
A reliability engineer is in charge of determining and managing the asset reliability risks of businesses. Reliability engineers are professionals who solve problems related to engineering. They are equipped with a better understanding of the principles of performance evaluation and prediction for product safety. The job requires knowledge of the field of engineering, strong communication, interpersonal skills, management skills, attention to detail, and reliability. They are also expected to become experts in engineering systems.
Sustaining engineers and reliability engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Sustaining Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average salary | $88,351 | $105,551 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $114,000 | Between $76,000 And $144,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Richmond, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | Washington |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Start-up |
There are a few differences between a sustaining engineer and a reliability engineer in terms of educational background:
| Sustaining Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between sustaining engineers' and reliability engineers' demographics:
| Sustaining Engineer | Reliability Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5% | Male, 87.5% Female, 12.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.3% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 15.1% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.4% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.8% Asian, 14.3% White, 66.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |