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The differences between hardware technicians and technical 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 technical support technician. Additionally, a hardware technician has an average salary of $47,851, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a hardware technician include customer service, technical support and network printers. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Hardware Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $47,851 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $23.01 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 85,174 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| 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.
Technical support technicians are skilled professionals who resolve computer or information technology-related concerns. They may do installations, repairs, or maintenance activities of various applications or computer hardware. They are sometimes assigned specific issues or concerns to resolve so that they will not be bombarded with various issues. This means that they can now specialize in a specific family of concerns. Technical support technicians may provide on-site support, going directly to the person who needs help and doing what needs to be done or troubleshoot the problem in person. They may also be offsite and would usually be manning helpdesk hotlines. Offsite technical support technicians walk the caller through the steps they should do to fix the issues. As such, when a technical support technician is offsite, they are expected to be good communicators and will be able to provide clear instructions.
Hardware technicians and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Hardware Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $47,851 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $71,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a hardware technician and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Hardware Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between hardware technicians' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Hardware Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 90.0% Female, 10.0% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| 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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |