Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between hardware 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 hardware support technician and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, 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 a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Hardware Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $41,832 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $20.11 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 111,104 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
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.
Hardware support technicians and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hardware Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $41,832 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $54,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a hardware support technician and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Hardware Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between hardware support technicians' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Hardware Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| Race ratio | Black 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, 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% |