Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between field support technicians 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 field support technician and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, which is higher than the $42,440 average annual salary of a field support technician.
The top three skills for a field support technician include customer service, user support and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Field Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $42,440 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $20.40 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 161,037 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A field service technician is working on-call to provide emergency services and test equipment devices for safety purposes and quality control. They are responsible for working with clients to prevent, troubleshoot, and repair issues. They help clients on how to install, maintain, and diagnose equipment for repair. They also present to clients how to properly use their equipment. It is also part of their job to provide training to clients in line with safety standards and regulations.
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.
Field support technicians and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Field Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $42,440 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $62,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Bridgewater, NJ | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | California |
| Best paying company | HP | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Finance |
There are a few differences between a field support technician and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Field Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 41% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Computer Information Systems | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between field support technicians' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Field Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.9% 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% |