Wide area network administrator vs help desk administrator

The differences between wide area network administrators and help desk 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 wide area network administrator and a help desk administrator. Additionally, a wide area network administrator has an average salary of $61,805, which is higher than the $49,798 average annual salary of a help desk administrator.

The top three skills for a wide area network administrator include switches, PC and tcp ip. The most important skills for a help desk administrator are customer service, desk support, and troubleshoot.

Wide area network administrator vs help desk administrator overview

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Help Desk Administrator
Yearly salary	$61,805	$49,798
Hourly rate	$29.71	$23.94
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	83,700	130,180
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Wide area network administrator vs help desk administrator salary

Wide area network administrators and help desk administrators have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Help Desk Administrator
Average salary	$61,805	$49,798
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $90,000	Between $34,000 And $71,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	New Jersey
Best paying company	-	Houlihan Lokey
Best paying industry	-	Finance

Differences between wide area network administrator and help desk administrator education

There are a few differences between a wide area network administrator and a help desk administrator in terms of educational background:

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Help Desk Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Stanford University

Wide area network administrator vs help desk administrator demographics

Here are the differences between wide area network administrators' and help desk administrators' demographics:

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Help Desk Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5%	Male, 74.3% Female, 25.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 9.4% Asian, 9.6% White, 70.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%	Black or African American, 9.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.8% Asian, 8.8% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between wide area network administrator and help desk administrator duties and responsibilities

Wide area network administrator example responsibilities.

Manage and support corporate Linux Production/Development servers.
Coordinate marketing brainstorming meetings, prepare minutes, manage project follow-up, and create summary PowerPoint presentations.
Maintain and update Novell, Microsoft, and Linux servers.
Create a macro driven pc base budget preparation system.
Administer and install Cisco switches, routers, firewalls and VPNs.
Participate in projects requiring installation, configuration and support for network routers and switches, firewalls and effective application load balancing.

Help desk administrator example responsibilities.

Create, deploy and manage VMWare virtual desktops as well as configured customize pools for specific operational needs.
Manage the PC refresh program transferring all user data remotely and installing require software applications.
Configure, establish and manage local area network (LAN) connectivity and remote access per customer configuration requirements.
Administer DNS / DHCP servers, work with network administer to make sure the tables are updating correctly.
Administer IP address allocation through DHCP management.
Assist in the deployment of new POS applications and hardware.

Wide area network administrator vs help desk administrator skills

Common wide area network administrator skills

Switches, 42%
PC, 31%
Tcp Ip, 28%

Common help desk administrator skills

Customer Service, 11%
Desk Support, 7%
Troubleshoot, 6%
Technical Support, 5%
Phone Calls, 4%
Remote Desktop, 4%

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Wide Area Network Administrator
Wide Area Network Administrator vs Help Desk Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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