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The differences between field technicians and lead field technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a field technician, becoming a lead field technician takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a lead field technician has an average salary of $40,838, which is higher than the $37,520 average annual salary of a field technician.
The top three skills for a field technician include customer service, ladders and test equipment. The most important skills for a lead field technician are customer service, data collection, and GPS.
| Field Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $37,520 | $40,838 |
| Hourly rate | $18.04 | $19.63 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 123,149 | 88,080 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
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.
The Lead Field Technician serves as the assistant of the Field Supervisor. Their responsibility includes taking immediate action and making decisions for instances that individuals or organizations need their help. They are the one who implements and monitors a company's guidelines and policy and maintains the standard procedure of all the systems. Also, being an assistant, they can act as an overseer to determine the employees and equipment types that need to work smoothly and orderly.
Field technicians and lead field technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Field Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Average salary | $37,520 | $40,838 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $48,000 | Between $24,000 And $67,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | Oakland, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Nevada |
| Best paying company | DCP Midstream | Schneider Electric Industrial Services |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Utilities |
There are a few differences between a field technician and a lead field technician in terms of educational background:
| Field Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between field technicians' and lead field technicians' demographics:
| Field Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.5% Female, 11.5% | Male, 87.2% Female, 12.8% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 1% | 8% |