Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between help desk managers and desktop support analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a help desk manager and a desktop support analyst. Additionally, a help desk manager has an average salary of $96,278, which is higher than the $48,674 average annual salary of a desktop support analyst.
The top three skills for a help desk manager include customer service, technical support and help desk. The most important skills for a desktop support analyst are desktop support, customer service, and computer system.
| Help Desk Manager | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $96,278 | $48,674 |
| Hourly rate | $46.29 | $23.40 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 75,971 | 99,621 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A help desk manager oversees and coordinates the daily performance of help desk teams, ensuring clients get to receive optimal support and services. They are in charge of setting goals and guidelines, establishing budgets and timelines, performing assessments and inspections, and monitoring the progress of operations, resolving issues or conflicts should any arise. There are also instances when a help desk manager must facilitate the communication between internal and external parties, recruit and train new members of the workforce, and implement policies and procedures to optimize operations.
A desktop support analyst's role is to develop strategies and systems to improve and coordinate desktop support efforts. Their responsibilities revolve around testing and modifying existing networks and systems, providing corrective measures on issues and concerns, performing regular inspections, troubleshooting, and maintaining inventories on software, hardware, and other applications. Furthermore, as a desktop support analyst, it is essential to respond to calls and correspondence from clients, all while adhering to the policies and regulations of the company.
Help desk managers and desktop support analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Help Desk Manager | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Average salary | $96,278 | $48,674 |
| Salary range | Between $74,000 And $125,000 | Between $36,000 And $65,000 |
| Highest paying City | Berkeley, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New York |
| Best paying company | Meta | Cambridge Associates |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a help desk manager and a desktop support analyst in terms of educational background:
| Help Desk Manager | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
Here are the differences between help desk managers' and desktop support analysts' demographics:
| Help Desk Manager | Desktop Support Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 70.3% Female, 29.7% | Male, 87.9% Female, 12.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 12.3% White, 54.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |