What does a customer support engineer do?
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.
Customer support engineer responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real customer support engineer resumes:
- Manage a monthly SharePoint user group to help improve the SharePoint customer experience.
- Manage live broadcasts that are delivered via the Internet using HTML and JavaScript.
- Support the SAN team for storage expansion, with the NEXSAN support systems and managing HDD appliance.
- Lead technical operations for an innovative workforce virtualization movement, including initial design and improvement of technical systems and processes.
- Perform troubleshooting and investigations of technical issues for the Java front-end and database backend of the product.
- Sole builder of XML records via UNIX/shell scripting & creator of SQL queries, train QA co-worker Unix/SQL.
- Run cabling to PC's and/or switches for network connectivity, as well as troubleshoot minor network connectivity issues.
- Assist in installation and configuration of Microsoft CRM.
- Provide input for key changes the internal CRM.
- Upgrade and installation of motherboards on POS OS.
- Develop XSLT to format returning XML from vendors.
- Standardize all drawings need to fabricate and assemble PCB's.
- Implement dynamic web content using JSP, HTML and JavaScript.
- Used SCCM to image workstations and install various necessary programs.
- Deploy applications using a web base SCCM tool to newly image computers
Customer support engineer skills and personality traits
We calculated that 15% of Customer Support Engineers are proficient in Customer Support, Technical Support, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Listening skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Customer Support Engineers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Support, 15%
Acted as primary customer support agent interfacing with customers to connect CISCO business units to meet their requirements effectively and efficiently.
- Technical Support, 10%
Provided technical support for global customer networks, including configuration, troubleshooting and laboratory simulations for a variety of networking protocols.
- Customer Service, 9%
Acquired additional information on incident tickets submitted via customer service representatives and escalated higher impact severity incidents to Tier II support.
- Customer Satisfaction, 7%
Coordinate repair in a time efficient and courteous manner to minimize disruption in system utilization and earn excellent customer satisfaction.
- CSE, 5%
Provide complex level systems, product training and mentoring other CSE's and assist in problem resolution where required.
- Linux, 4%
Perform Windows server 2000/2003, UNIX, Linux Red Hat, Linux CentOs, Virtual Server, Installation and Administration.
Most customer support engineers use their skills in "customer support," "technical support," and "customer service" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential customer support engineer responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a customer support engineer to have is customer-service skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "computer support specialists must be patient and sympathetic." Customer support engineers often use customer-service skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "generated improved problem correction and enhanced customer support through development of web interface to integrate a 3-tier database with production systems. "
Listening skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling customer support engineer duties is listening skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "support workers must be able to understand the problems that their customers are describing and know when to ask questions to clarify the situation." According to a customer support engineer resume, here's how customer support engineers can utilize listening skills in their job responsibilities: "communicated with customers, sales representatives, account managers, and technical staff to assure customer satisfaction. "
Speaking skills. This is an important skill for customer support engineers to perform their duties. For an example of how customer support engineer responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "support workers must describe the solutions to computer problems in a way that a nontechnical person can understand." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a customer support engineer: "prepared and presented material depicting trends in reported failures and resultant corrective action to airline representatives. ".
Writing skills. customer support engineer responsibilities often require "writing skills." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "strong writing skills are useful for preparing instructions and email responses for employees and customers, as well as for real-time web chat interactions." This resume example shows what customer support engineers do with writing skills on a typical day: "performed technical writing and publication of aircraft performance data materials and developed customer training materials. "
Problem-solving skills. Another common skill required for customer support engineer responsibilities is "problem-solving skills." This skill comes up in the duties of customer support engineers all the time, as "support workers must identify both simple and complex computer problems, analyze them, and solve them." An excerpt from a real customer support engineer resume shows how this skill is central to what a customer support engineer does: "provided customer support, answered questions and resolved problems with telephone dialing equipment system. "
The three companies that hire the most customer support engineers are:
- KLA27 customer support engineers jobs
- Raytheon Technologies17 customer support engineers jobs
- Alteryx15 customer support engineers jobs
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Compare different customer support engineers
Customer support engineer vs. Support
A support employee is responsible for assisting the business operations and responding to customers' inquiries and concerns regarding its goods and services. Support logs all customers' interaction and escalates potential complaints to the appropriate department. They also help with implementing strategic procedures to improve operations and reach maximum productivity. A support employee must have excellent communication and customer service skills, ensuring clients' satisfaction with the services and maintain good feedback to boost the company's brand, attract more clients, and increase revenues.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, customer support engineer responsibilities require skills like "customer support," "technical support," "cse," and "sql." Meanwhile a typical support has skills in areas such as "cash management," "hr," "inventory control," and "ladders." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Supports really shine in the professional industry with an average salary of $50,563. Comparatively, customer support engineers tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $85,278.On average, supports reach similar levels of education than customer support engineers. Supports are 4.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Customer support engineer vs. Support analyst
The role of support analysts is to resolve problems with hardware, computer programs, and peripherals. They may focus on a particular aspect of the information technology (IT) department or give technical support to end-users. They mainly detect issues with IT equipment and software and devise solutions to resolve these issues. Also, they are responsible for answering queries from users, preparing service records, and handling escalations. Support analysts also support the company's IT operations and best practices by creating and distributing relevant IT documents.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, customer support engineer responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "cse," "sql," "san," and "corrective action." Meanwhile, a support analyst has duties that require skills in areas such as "troubleshoot," "application support," "patients," and "issue resolution." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Support analysts earn a lower average salary than customer support engineers. But support analysts earn the highest pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $93,871. Additionally, customer support engineers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $85,278 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Support analysts tend to reach similar levels of education than customer support engineers. In fact, they're 1.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for customer support engineers in the next 3-5 years?
Babak Beheshti Ph.D.
Dean, Professor, New York Institute of Technology
-We will be witnessing a more widespread commercial deployment of 5G in 2020. With the implementation of the Standalone 5G devices based on the 3gpp release 16, we should be seeing the more robust mobile broadband deployment of 5G, wider availability of 5G smartphones, and a push towards an all 5G Network in select urban areas around the world.
-Significant growth in AI-based technologies, from face recognition and voice recognition to business intelligence and market predictions. As machines and deep learning algorithms get integrated into many applications, many industries will undergo substantial changes. AI systems will continue to interact with our phones; cars will interpret and analyze their surroundings and intelligently drive themselves. Online vendors will monitor our browsing habits, and Google decides what kind of search results to give us, based on who it thinks we are.
Customer support engineer vs. Service engineer
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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a customer support engineer is likely to be skilled in "cse," "sql," "san," and "crm," while a typical service engineer is skilled in "infrastructure," "cloud," "database," and "azure."
Service engineers make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $99,362. On the other hand, customer support engineers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $85,278.When it comes to education, service engineers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to customer support engineers. In fact, they're 2.4% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Customer support engineer vs. Software support technician
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.
Types of customer support engineer
Updated January 8, 2025
