Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between decision support analysts and desktop support analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a decision support analyst and a desktop support analyst. Additionally, a decision support analyst has an average salary of $81,227, which is higher than the $48,674 average annual salary of a desktop support analyst.
The top three skills for a decision support analyst include data analysis, SAS and tableau. The most important skills for a desktop support analyst are desktop support, customer service, and computer system.
| Decision Support Analyst | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $81,227 | $48,674 |
| Hourly rate | $39.05 | $23.40 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 96,068 | 99,621 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A decision support analyst is a support staff who perform a variety of specialized analyses such as financial analyses and cost-benefit analyses. Your duties typically include documenting analytical findings, designing and developing data reporting systems tailored for business operations, and providing team members with processed data as needed. Additionally, you will be responsible for managing data integrity and accuracy, diagnosing and troubleshooting system errors, and providing recommendations for improvements of the decision support systems. You are also expected to train other team members on how to use the system.
A desktop support analyst's role is to develop strategies and systems to improve and coordinate desktop support efforts. Their responsibilities revolve around testing and modifying existing networks and systems, providing corrective measures on issues and concerns, performing regular inspections, troubleshooting, and maintaining inventories on software, hardware, and other applications. Furthermore, as a desktop support analyst, it is essential to respond to calls and correspondence from clients, all while adhering to the policies and regulations of the company.
Decision support analysts and desktop support analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Decision Support Analyst | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Average salary | $81,227 | $48,674 |
| Salary range | Between $58,000 And $112,000 | Between $36,000 And $65,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | Meta | Cambridge Associates |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a decision support analyst and a desktop support analyst in terms of educational background:
| Decision Support Analyst | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between decision support analysts' and desktop support analysts' demographics:
| Decision Support Analyst | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.1% Female, 50.9% | Male, 87.9% Female, 12.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.5% Hispanic or Latino, 13.9% Asian, 12.9% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 12.3% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |