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The differences between field technicians and repair 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 repair technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, a repair technician has an average salary of $41,643, 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 repair technician are customer service, hand tools, and customer satisfaction.
| Field Technician | Repair Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $37,520 | $41,643 |
| Hourly rate | $18.04 | $20.02 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 123,149 | 162,051 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Associate Degree, 38% |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 4 |
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.
A repair technician's role focuses on assessing the problem or damage of a device and implementing solutions for it to function again. Although the extent of a technician's tasks will depend on the device or industry of employment, most of it revolves around troubleshooting, providing technical support, installing and writing programs, detaching and re-attaching wirings, welding, and even thoroughly discussing problems and solutions to clients. Furthermore, there are instances when a repair technician must work in a team setting that requires coordination and communication.
Field technicians and repair technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Field Technician | Repair Technician | |
| Average salary | $37,520 | $41,643 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $48,000 | Between $27,000 And $63,000 |
| Highest paying City | Washington, DC | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Hawaii |
| Best paying company | DCP Midstream | SoCalGas |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Manufacturing |
There are a few differences between a field technician and a repair technician in terms of educational background:
| Field Technician | Repair Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Associate Degree, 38% |
| Most common major | Business | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between field technicians' and repair technicians' demographics:
| Field Technician | Repair Technician | |
| Average age | 44 | 47 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.5% Female, 11.5% | Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7% |
| 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, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 4.6% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 1% | 2% |