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The differences between weapons engineers and operations engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both a weapons engineer and an operations engineer. Additionally, a weapons engineer has an average salary of $99,077, which is higher than the $91,522 average annual salary of an operations engineer.
The top three skills for a weapons engineer include engineering support, electrical systems and ammunition. The most important skills for an operations engineer are python, cloud, and AWS.
| Weapons Engineer | Operations Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $99,077 | $91,522 |
| Hourly rate | $47.63 | $44.00 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 85,352 | 155,188 |
| Job satisfaction | 4 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
A weapons engineer is responsible for developing, testing, and managing weapons systems on behalf of a government organization. They may work as an electrical engineer, mechanical engineer, nuclear engineer, chemical engineer, or aerospace engineer. They specialize in developing weapon technologies and national security technologies. A university degree is required to work as a weapons engineer in any defense organization.
An operations engineer is an individual who is responsible for ensuring that the operations of a company are working properly in industries such as manufacturing or shipping. Operations engineers are required to handle repairs or upgrades to the company's machinery and coordinate with department heads to assist in fine-tuning their operations system. When they have upgraded their system, operations engineers should conduct training with managers as well as employees and other workers. They are also required to examine machinery for defects and communicate maintenance schedules with department heads.
Weapons engineers and operations engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Weapons Engineer | Operations Engineer | |
| Average salary | $99,077 | $91,522 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $150,000 | Between $63,000 And $132,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | Apple |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a weapons engineer and an operations engineer in terms of educational background:
| Weapons Engineer | Operations Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Mechanical Engineering |
| Most common college | Georgia Institute of Technology | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between weapons engineers' and operations engineers' demographics:
| Weapons Engineer | Operations Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 84.6% Female, 15.4% | Male, 89.9% Female, 10.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 2.8% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 6.5% Asian, 11.1% White, 75.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 72.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 5% |