Wide area network administrator vs network administrator

The differences between wide area network administrators 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 wide area network administrator and a network administrator. Additionally, a network administrator has an average salary of $71,357, which is higher than the $61,805 average annual salary of a wide area network administrator.

The top three skills for a wide area network administrator include switches, PC and tcp ip. The most important skills for a network administrator are switches, windows server, and troubleshoot.

Wide area network administrator vs network administrator overview

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Network Administrator
Yearly salary	$61,805	$71,357
Hourly rate	$29.71	$34.31
Growth rate	5%	5%
Number of jobs	83,700	106,886
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	2	2

Wide area network administrator vs network administrator salary

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

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Network Administrator
Average salary	$61,805	$71,357
Salary range	Between $42,000 And $90,000	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 wide area network administrator and network administrator education

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

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Network Administrator
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 44%	Bachelor's Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	University of Pennsylvania	Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Wide area network administrator vs network administrator demographics

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

	Wide Area Network Administrator	Network Administrator
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5%	Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4%
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, 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 wide area network administrator and network 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.

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

Wide area network administrator vs network administrator skills

Common wide area network administrator skills

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

Common network administrator skills

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

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Wide Area Network Administrator
Wide Area Network Administrator vs Network Administrator

Updated January 8, 2025

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