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The differences between information technology/support 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 an information technology/support technician and a customer support technician. Additionally, an information technology/support technician has an average salary of $45,591, which is higher than the $36,361 average annual salary of a customer support technician.
The top three skills for an information technology/support technician include customer service, troubleshoot and computer system. The most important skills for a customer support technician are customer service, customer support, and SQL.
| Information Technology/Support Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $45,591 | $36,361 |
| Hourly rate | $21.92 | $17.48 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 161,748 | 117,102 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An information technology (IT) support technician is an individual who is responsible for providing support and troubleshoots software and hardware problems faced by customers. As for larger organizations that have their own IT department, technicians must work together internally with their IT staff members. IT support technicians are involved in inspecting and resolving minor local area network and wireless network issues, which include TCP/IP, DHCP, and VPN. They are also required to obtain an associate's degree in computer science or related field.
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.
Information technology/support technicians and customer support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Information Technology/Support Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $45,591 | $36,361 |
| Salary range | Between $31,000 And $66,000 | Between $23,000 And $56,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Adobe |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between an information technology/support technician and a customer support technician in terms of educational background:
| Information Technology/Support Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 51% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between information technology/support technicians' and customer support technicians' demographics:
| Information Technology/Support Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 85.4% Female, 14.6% | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 13.2% White, 54.6% 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% |