Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between customer support engineers and software support technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a customer support engineer and a software support technician. Additionally, a customer support engineer has an average salary of $82,674, which is higher than the $79,670 average annual salary of a software support technician.
The top three skills for a customer support engineer include customer support, technical support and customer service. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Customer Support Engineer | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $82,674 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $39.75 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 138,641 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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 software support technician is responsible for resolving software application issues, diagnosing related system failures, and writing resolution reports for reference. Software support technicians must be highly-familiarized with the system's infrastructure and interface to immediately diagnose malfunctions and identify maintenance techniques to prevent the reoccurrence of downtimes and delays. They also assist the system engineers in the configuration and optimization of networks, including the installment of upgrades and patch updates. A software support technician must have excellent organizational and communication skills, especially in navigating computer tools and applications to create support tickets and fix the customers' issues efficiently.
Customer support engineers and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Customer Support Engineer | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $82,674 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $59,000 And $114,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Washington | California |
| Best paying company | Nokia | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a customer support engineer and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Customer Support Engineer | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between customer support engineers' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Customer Support Engineer | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.8% Female, 14.2% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| 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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |