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The differences between customer support engineers and service engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a customer support engineer, becoming a service engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a service engineer has an average salary of $87,151, which is higher than the $82,674 average annual salary of a customer support engineer.
The top three skills for a customer support engineer include customer support, technical support and customer service. The most important skills for a service engineer are customer service, infrastructure, and cloud.
| Customer Support Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $82,674 | $87,151 |
| Hourly rate | $39.75 | $41.90 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 138,641 | 143,806 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 6 |
A customer support engineer is responsible for providing the highest customer service by responding to the customers' inquiries and concerns and resolving their complaints regarding the technical products of the company. Customer support engineers handle escalated requests, determine technical solutions, and write resolution reports for reference. They also manage the installation and upgrades of network systems based on clients' specifications to ensure that their systems work with maximum performance. A customer support engineer must have excellent communication and technical skills, especially in recommending improvements to prevent system failures and minimize customers' complaints.
A service engineer is responsible for assisting the customers' concerns regarding the products and services offered by the company through technical support solutions. Service engineers conduct preventive maintenance, upgrade systems to boost optimal performance, create product manuals, record the occurring issues, perform adjustments on the systems infrastructure, identify business opportunities to generate more revenues, and analyze current market trends to meet client demands. A service engineer must have excellent communication skills, including extensive knowledge of the technology industry and network systems.
Customer support engineers and service engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Support Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average salary | $82,674 | $87,151 |
| Salary range | Between $59,000 And $114,000 | Between $62,000 And $122,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Nokia | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a customer support engineer and a service engineer in terms of educational background:
| Customer Support Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Michigan Technological University |
Here are the differences between customer support engineers' and service engineers' demographics:
| Customer Support Engineer | Service Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.8% Female, 14.2% | Male, 91.8% Female, 8.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 15.0% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 13.2% White, 69.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 5% |