Post job

Hardware support technician vs administrative technical support

The differences between hardware support technicians and administrative technical supports can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a hardware support technician and an administrative technical support. Additionally, an administrative technical support has an average salary of $46,753, which is higher than the $41,832 average annual salary of a hardware support technician.

The top three skills for a hardware support technician include hardware support, technical support and customer service. The most important skills for an administrative technical support are technical support, customer service, and troubleshoot.

Hardware support technician vs administrative technical support overview

Hardware Support TechnicianAdministrative Technical Support
Yearly salary$41,832$46,753
Hourly rate$20.11$22.48
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs111,104186,858
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age4242
Years of experience22

What does a hardware support technician do?

A hardware support technician is an individual who deals with hardware problems and tries to provide solutions to clients' problems. As a professional, you are tasked with providing IT support to organizations and may have to work with computer hardware, servers, and computer clusters. As someone who is a hardware support technician, your job description may require you to help with the installation and maintenance of computer systems. You may also be required to provide troubleshooting solutions and repair computer hardware.

What does an administrative technical support do?

Administrative technical support maintains every technical set-up used in a company. Their primary responsibility is to inspect a company's systems, evaluate for issues, and repair any problems immediately. Administrative technical support is typically on call at the start of the day and, when they are not responding to calls, they conduct regular check-ups on all company systems. They are also responsible for creating technical reports and offering recommendations for improvements.

Hardware support technician vs administrative technical support salary

Hardware support technicians and administrative technical supports have different pay scales, as shown below.

Hardware Support TechnicianAdministrative Technical Support
Average salary$41,832$46,753
Salary rangeBetween $31,000 And $54,000Between $29,000 And $75,000
Highest paying City-New York, NY
Highest paying state-New Jersey
Best paying company-AIG
Best paying industry--

Differences between hardware support technician and administrative technical support education

There are a few differences between a hardware support technician and an administrative technical support in terms of educational background:

Hardware Support TechnicianAdministrative Technical Support
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 46%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Hardware support technician vs administrative technical support demographics

Here are the differences between hardware support technicians' and administrative technical supports' demographics:

Hardware Support TechnicianAdministrative Technical Support
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 88.6% Female, 11.4%Male, 67.6% Female, 32.4%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 12.1% White, 54.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 12.4% White, 54.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage11%11%

Differences between hardware support technician and administrative technical support duties and responsibilities

Hardware support technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage backups, replications and disaster recovery plans of company mission critical servers and database files to ensure redundancy.
  • Resolve LAN, wireless, and TCP/IP issues on Cisco devices.
  • Configure user accounts and security through local group policy, installation and configuration of SQL for the POS environment.
  • Install and configure new PCs and printers.
  • Configure OS image installs on new thin clients and re-image as needed.
  • Replace or upgrade desktop PCs and monitors; setup network and local printers.
  • Show more

Administrative technical support example responsibilities.

  • Manage video teleconference sessions, troubleshoot connection issues.
  • Lead technical operations for an innovative workforce virtualization movement, including initial design and improvement of technical systems and processes.
  • Used Citrix remote access to demonstrate and diagnose software problems.
  • Perform automation of scripts for all the environments in UNIX.
  • Train new users, assist in maintenance and deployment of SLA.
  • Maintain DNS zones, virtual web sites and POP3 email client accounts.
  • Show more

Hardware support technician vs administrative technical support skills

Common hardware support technician skills
  • Hardware Support, 20%
  • Technical Support, 9%
  • Customer Service, 6%
  • Linux, 5%
  • Network Printers, 5%
  • Troubleshoot, 4%
Common administrative technical support skills
  • Technical Support, 13%
  • Customer Service, 9%
  • Troubleshoot, 7%
  • Phone Calls, 6%
  • Data Entry, 5%
  • Desk Support, 5%

Browse computer and mathematical jobs