Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between hardware support technicians and technical support engineers 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 technical support engineer. Additionally, a technical support engineer has an average salary of $85,716, 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 technical support engineer are technical support, customer service, and troubleshoot.
| Hardware Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $41,832 | $85,716 |
| Hourly rate | $20.11 | $41.21 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 111,104 | 184,542 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| 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 technical support engineer is responsible for responding to customer issues, providing immediate resolutions to their system issues through remote assistance. Technical support engineers must have strong knowledge of software and hardware applications to diagnose system defects and process troubleshooting. They also assist customers with the installation of programs and updates to improve system performance, escalating high-level concerns to appropriate internal technology teams. A technical support engineer must have strong command with technical systems, as well as excellent communication and time-management skills to understand clients' issues while documenting procedures.
Hardware support technicians and technical support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hardware Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $41,832 | $85,716 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $54,000 | Between $61,000 And $119,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | Meta |
| Best paying industry | - | Technology |
There are a few differences between a hardware support technician and a technical support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Hardware Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between hardware support technicians' and technical support engineers' demographics:
| Hardware Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.6% Female, 11.4% | Male, 83.3% Female, 16.7% |
| 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, 9.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |