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The differences between field service specialists and support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a field service specialist and a support specialist. Additionally, a field service specialist has an average salary of $51,832, which is higher than the $40,782 average annual salary of a support specialist.
The top three skills for a field service specialist include customer satisfaction, provide customer support and customer support. The most important skills for a support specialist are customer service, patients, and mental health.
| Field Service Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $51,832 | $40,782 |
| Hourly rate | $24.92 | $19.61 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 104,134 | 125,740 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A field service specialist is responsible for visiting sites and driving down to clients' locations to provide support for their technical and mechanical issues. Field service specialists identify maintenance problems by asking questions to the clients and personally fix those errors, informing the clients of technical solutions. They also perform installation and quality check services to ensure the stability and efficiency of the technical components and materials. A field service specialist must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially the ability to work for extended hours in the field to achieve the highest customer satisfaction.
A support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
Field service specialists and support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Field Service Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $51,832 | $40,782 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $81,000 | Between $25,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Palo Alto, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | SAP | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a field service specialist and a support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Field Service Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 35% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between field service specialists' and support specialists' demographics:
| Field Service Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.8% Female, 11.2% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.9% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |