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Digital technician vs field technician

The differences between digital technicians and field technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a digital technician and a field technician. Additionally, a digital technician has an average salary of $73,262, which is higher than the $37,520 average annual salary of a field technician.

The top three skills for a digital technician include photography, adobe creative suite and technical support. The most important skills for a field technician are customer service, ladders, and test equipment.

Digital technician vs field technician overview

Digital TechnicianField Technician
Yearly salary$73,262$37,520
Hourly rate$35.22$18.04
Growth rate-8%
Number of jobs54,243123,149
Job satisfaction-5
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 54%Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age5044
Years of experience1212

What does a digital technician do?

Digital Technicians are responsible for producing design presentations and digital models through sketches, electronic visualizations, and software. Their duties include producing engineering sketches and drawings, developing building information models (BIM), conducting virtual design assessments, preparing engineering calculations and measurements, and attending design meetings. They are responsible for visiting sites, making design presentations, and participating in training workshops. Digital technicians assist in performing administrative duties for a project.

What does a field technician do?

A field technician is responsible for providing technical and maintenance support for the customers by area visits. Field technicians' duties include diagnosing technical problems, replacing malfunction components, upgrading systems for efficiency, running equipment tests to ensure stability, creating draft reports of performed processes, utilizing vehicles and other tools safely, following client's specifications on operating equipment, and adhering to the safety standards. A field technician must have excellent communication and decision-making skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the technological industry.

Digital technician vs field technician salary

Digital technicians and field technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

Digital TechnicianField Technician
Average salary$73,262$37,520
Salary rangeBetween $39,000 And $134,000Between $28,000 And $48,000
Highest paying CityHouston, TXWashington, DC
Highest paying stateNew JerseyConnecticut
Best paying companyMorgan StanleyDCP Midstream
Best paying industryTechnologyEnergy

Differences between digital technician and field technician education

There are a few differences between a digital technician and a field technician in terms of educational background:

Digital TechnicianField Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 54%Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common majorPhotographyBusiness
Most common collegeStanford University-

Digital technician vs field technician demographics

Here are the differences between digital technicians' and field technicians' demographics:

Digital TechnicianField Technician
Average age5044
Gender ratioMale, 75.9% Female, 24.1%Male, 88.5% Female, 11.5%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 8.0% White, 70.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%Black or African American, 4.5% Unknown, 3.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 1.7% White, 71.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage8%1%

Differences between digital technician and field technician duties and responsibilities

Digital technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage the tier-2 ticketing system and propagate hot topic responses to the SharePoint knowledge base.
  • Service and maintain all PC's and Macintosh equipment.
  • Burned plates digitally on a CREO platemaker.
  • Create CMYK prepress proofs using Agfa match-print material.
  • Check metal plates as they print from the CTP.
  • Operate scanner to produce digital files for use in CTP processes.
  • Show more

Field technician example responsibilities.

  • Lead training, operations, user hardware and software support, and logbook oversight.
  • Manage network reliability, capacity and performance in conjunction with RF engineering establish guidelines.
  • Install cable to data network, pulling cat5, cat6 to racks, patch panel patch cords.
  • Provide desktop support and troubleshoot network communications issue at customer homes.
  • Install AWS and LTE Equiptment.
  • Work with NOC's for trouble issues.
  • Show more

Digital technician vs field technician skills

Common digital technician skills
  • Photography, 18%
  • Adobe Creative Suite, 9%
  • Technical Support, 9%
  • Adobe Photoshop, 7%
  • Windows, 7%
  • Capture One Pro, 6%
Common field technician skills
  • Customer Service, 11%
  • Ladders, 9%
  • Test Equipment, 7%
  • Hand Tools, 6%
  • Smartphones, 4%
  • Preventative Maintenance, 4%

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