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The differences between infrastructure support specialists and desktop 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 desktop support specialist. Additionally, an infrastructure support specialist has an average salary of $94,997, which is higher than the $44,962 average annual salary of a desktop support specialist.
The top three skills for an infrastructure support specialist include infrastructure support, troubleshoot and cloud. The most important skills for a desktop support specialist are customer service, desktop support, and troubleshoot.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Desktop Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $94,997 | $44,962 |
| Hourly rate | $45.67 | $21.62 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 135,837 | 102,191 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| 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 Desktop Support Specialist is focused on troubleshooting different software packages, hardware devices, and other peripherals. They monitor the performance of the company's desktop infrastructure.
Infrastructure support specialists and desktop support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Desktop Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $94,997 | $44,962 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $130,000 | Between $33,000 And $59,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | California | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | Barclays | Cornerstone Research |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between an infrastructure support specialist and a desktop support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Desktop Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between infrastructure support specialists' and desktop support specialists' demographics:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Desktop Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.4% Female, 10.6% | Male, 87.6% Female, 12.4% |
| 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, 11.2% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 12.3% White, 54.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |