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The differences between decision support analysts 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 decision support analyst and a software support technician. Additionally, a decision support analyst has an average salary of $81,227, which is higher than the $79,670 average annual salary of a software support technician.
The top three skills for a decision support analyst include data analysis, SAS and tableau. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Decision Support Analyst | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $81,227 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $39.05 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 96,068 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| 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 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.
Decision support analysts and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Decision Support Analyst | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $81,227 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $58,000 And $112,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Mountain View, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a decision support analyst and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Decision Support Analyst | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 73% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between decision support analysts' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Decision Support Analyst | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 49.1% Female, 50.9% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| 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, 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% |