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The differences between hardware technicians and customer 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 technician and a customer support technician. Additionally, a hardware technician has an average salary of $47,851, which is higher than the $36,361 average annual salary of a customer support technician.
The top three skills for a hardware technician include customer service, technical support and network printers. The most important skills for a customer support technician are customer service, customer support, and SQL.
| Hardware Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $47,851 | $36,361 |
| Hourly rate | $23.01 | $17.48 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 85,174 | 117,102 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A hardware technician is typically in charge of providing technical support to clients or employees, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. In a company setting, a hardware technician is responsible for performing initial assessments on computer hardware, troubleshooting, diagnosing problems, and providing step by step solutions to solve the issues. They may also perform corrective repairs on problems and conduct regular maintenance checks to ensure the quality of equipment. Furthermore, as a hardware technician, it is essential to maintain an active communication line with staff for a smooth and efficient workflow.
A customer support technician is responsible for resolving customer complaints with their network issues through remote communication, providing the customers with a step-by-step procedure to fix their systems. Customer support technicians assist the customers in setting up their programs and applications, guiding them with the instructional manuals, and responding to the inquiries and concerns they have. They also escalate high-level complaints to the immediate supervisor as needed while monitoring system solutions and creating technical tickets.
Hardware technicians and customer support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hardware Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $47,851 | $36,361 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $71,000 | Between $23,000 And $56,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Apple | Adobe |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a hardware technician and a customer support technician in terms of educational background:
| Hardware Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between hardware technicians' and customer support technicians' demographics:
| Hardware Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.0% Female, 10.0% | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 12.0% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |