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The differences between infrastructure support specialists and computer support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an infrastructure support specialist and a computer support specialist. Additionally, an infrastructure support specialist has an average salary of $94,997, which is higher than the $63,926 average annual salary of a computer support specialist.
The top three skills for an infrastructure support specialist include infrastructure support, troubleshoot and cloud. The most important skills for a computer support specialist are computer support, troubleshoot, and technical support.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Computer Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $94,997 | $63,926 |
| Hourly rate | $45.67 | $30.73 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 135,837 | 114,029 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An infrastructure support specialist generally plays a support role in the IT world, with "support" here not referring to an auxiliary role. They also help with the management and usability of organizational data and information. Their primary responsibility is to make sure the business goals of the company or enterprise are met by ensuring all data centers are functional, including elements such as network systems, software, hardware, and data storage facilities. They may also have to carry out complex technical evaluations and suggest proposed physical architectures along with elaborate designs.
A Computer Support Specialist is responsible for providing the highest customer service for clients with technical and system issues, resolving network failures, and creating support tickets for IT personnel. Computer Support Specialists utilize various system tools and applications to diagnose end-users network issues and conduct immediate troubleshooting. They also help the IT staff design and improve system features and infrastructures and create instructional manuals for deliverables. A Computer Support Specialist must have excellent technical and communication skills to document customers' requests and identify system solutions.
Infrastructure support specialists and computer support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Computer Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $94,997 | $63,926 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $130,000 | Between $44,000 And $91,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Washington |
| Best paying company | Barclays | |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between an infrastructure support specialist and a computer support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Computer Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between infrastructure support specialists' and computer support specialists' demographics:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Computer Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.4% Female, 10.6% | Male, 80.1% Female, 19.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 13.4% White, 53.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 11.2% White, 55.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |