Usability specialist vs specialist

The differences between usability specialists and specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a usability specialist, becoming a specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a usability specialist has an average salary of $86,253, which is higher than the $58,013 average annual salary of a specialist.

The top three skills for a usability specialist include user experience, web application and user interface. The most important skills for a specialist are patients, customer service, and work ethic.

Usability specialist vs specialist overview

	Usability Specialist	Specialist
Yearly salary	$86,253	$58,013
Hourly rate	$41.47	$27.89
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	790	358,433
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	4	2

Usability specialist vs specialist salary

Usability specialists and specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Usability Specialist	Specialist
Average salary	$86,253	$58,013
Salary range	Between $51,000 And $143,000	Between $32,000 And $104,000
Highest paying City	Oakland, CA	Jersey City, NJ
Highest paying state	New Jersey	New Jersey
Best paying company	Blue Shield of California	The Citadel
Best paying industry	Media	-

Differences between usability specialist and specialist education

There are a few differences between a usability specialist and a specialist in terms of educational background:

	Usability Specialist	Specialist
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 66%	Bachelor's Degree, 49%
Most common major	Psychology	Business
Most common college	Carnegie Mellon University	Stanford University

Usability specialist vs specialist demographics

Here are the differences between usability specialists' and specialists' demographics:

	Usability Specialist	Specialist
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 59.5% Female, 40.5%	Male, 47.5% Female, 52.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.1% Asian, 13.9% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2%	Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	4%	11%

Differences between usability specialist and specialist duties and responsibilities

Usability specialist example responsibilities.

Develop, manage and maintain multiple websites including fund-raising events and online registrations for intranet and Internet sites.
Gather feedback from new customers experiencing problems when using the new UI and build use cases for improvements.
Fill a critical role during UI refresh, working with QA each sprint to identify and prioritize issues find during testing.
Research methods include surveys, questionnaires, laboratory experiments, usability testing, task analyses, prototyping, and human-in-the-loop simulations.
Brand design and lifestyle photography attract desirable retail tenants resulting in multiple anchor leases.

Specialist example responsibilities.

Create, manage, and assist users with SharePoint sites.
Manage an on-site IRB and company good clinical practice (GCP) inspection.
Manage SharePoint sites by creating, editing, and customizing company sites, libraries and security.
Manage the building of accounts, assigning of static IP's, and scheduling of business class installations.
Convert servers from UNIX to Linux, all hardware diagnostics and repair including printers/plotters/desktops etc.
Follow safety procedures such as maintenance of all equipment (Telxon scanners, terminals and ladders).

Usability specialist vs specialist skills

Common usability specialist skills

User Experience, 13%
Web Application, 7%
User Interface, 7%
Usability Studies, 6%
Design Principles, 6%
Usability Tests, 6%

Common specialist skills

Patients, 15%
Customer Service, 11%
Work Ethic, 5%
Patient Care, 4%
Exceptional Client, 4%
Troubleshoot, 4%