Data processing technician vs computer technician

The differences between data processing technicians and computer 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 data processing technician and a computer technician. Additionally, a data processing technician has an average salary of $55,433, which is higher than the $39,767 average annual salary of a computer technician.

The top three skills for a data processing technician include data processing, data entry and QC. The most important skills for a computer technician are customer service, desk support, and network printers.

Data processing technician vs computer technician overview

	Data Processing Technician	Computer Technician
Yearly salary	$55,433	$39,767
Hourly rate	$26.65	$19.12
Growth rate	5%	10%
Number of jobs	106,715	95,688
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	44	42
Years of experience	2	2

Data processing technician vs computer technician salary

Data processing technicians and computer technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Data Processing Technician	Computer Technician
Average salary	$55,433	$39,767
Salary range	Between $41,000 And $73,000	Between $28,000 And $55,000
Highest paying City	-	Alexandria, VA
Highest paying state	-	Virginia
Best paying company	-	The Citadel
Best paying industry	-	Government

Differences between data processing technician and computer technician education

There are a few differences between a data processing technician and a computer technician in terms of educational background:

	Data Processing Technician	Computer Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Business	Computer Science
Most common college	Stanford University	University of Pennsylvania

Data processing technician vs computer technician demographics

Here are the differences between data processing technicians' and computer technicians' demographics:

	Data Processing Technician	Computer Technician
Average age	44	42
Gender ratio	Male, 60.3% Female, 39.7%	Male, 87.0% Female, 13.0%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 19.0% Asian, 9.0% White, 56.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 11.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.1% Asian, 11.1% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	7%	11%

Differences between data processing technician and computer technician duties and responsibilities

Data processing technician example responsibilities.

Manage backups for PC and UNIX environments.
Manage incoming tickets and incidents in remedy and troubleshooting.
Plan and install networking infrastructures for PC and UNIX environments.
Work as a team orient group programming network IP addressing.
Monitor printers and batch queues on PC LAN also do printer maintenance.
Install data and video equipment, as well as all associate CAT5, CAT6, and fiber optics cabling.

Computer technician example responsibilities.

Recreate and manage company website, maintain regular updates, manage DNS servers, administrate e-mail and outlook exchange server.
Manage and maintain desktop security updates company-wide with no downtime of systems due to OS vulnerability exploitation.
Manage backups, replications and disaster recovery plans of company mission critical servers and database files to ensure redundancy.
Add and configure networked printers for TCP/IP printing and other peripheral equipment including video conferencing equipment.
Diagnose and troubleshot computer hardware and software.
Fix computers, do inventory of computers, run cables.

Data processing technician vs computer technician skills

Common data processing technician skills

Data Processing, 30%
Data Entry, 22%
QC, 5%
Mainframe, 4%
Management Software, 4%
Electronic Discovery, 3%

Common computer technician skills

Customer Service, 13%
Desk Support, 8%
Network Printers, 6%
Computer System, 6%
Technical Support, 6%
Laptop Computers, 5%

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Data Processing Technician
Data Processing Technician vs Computer Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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