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The differences between desktop support consultants and technical 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 desktop support consultant and a technical support technician. Additionally, a desktop support consultant has an average salary of $46,733, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a desktop support consultant include desktop support, customer service and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Desktop Support Consultant | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $46,733 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $22.47 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 100,650 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
The duties of a desk support consultant vary on their line of work or industry of employment. Most of their responsibilities are likely to revolve around reaching out to clients through calls and correspondence, answering inquiries, troubleshooting, and providing corrective measures, all to attain customer satisfaction. Moreover, a desk support consultant may devise strategies to better communicate with clients, produce progress reports, and maintain accurate records of all transactions. Furthermore, it is essential to adhere to all policies and regulations at all times.
Technical support technicians are skilled professionals who resolve computer or information technology-related concerns. They may do installations, repairs, or maintenance activities of various applications or computer hardware. They are sometimes assigned specific issues or concerns to resolve so that they will not be bombarded with various issues. This means that they can now specialize in a specific family of concerns. Technical support technicians may provide on-site support, going directly to the person who needs help and doing what needs to be done or troubleshoot the problem in person. They may also be offsite and would usually be manning helpdesk hotlines. Offsite technical support technicians walk the caller through the steps they should do to fix the issues. As such, when a technical support technician is offsite, they are expected to be good communicators and will be able to provide clear instructions.
Desktop support consultants and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Desktop Support Consultant | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $46,733 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $64,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | NTT Data International L.L.C. | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a desktop support consultant and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Desktop Support Consultant | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between desktop support consultants' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Desktop Support Consultant | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.0% Female, 15.0% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% Asian, 13.5% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |