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The differences between infrastructure support specialists and 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 support specialist. Additionally, an infrastructure support specialist has an average salary of $94,997, which is higher than the $40,782 average annual salary of a support specialist.
The top three skills for an infrastructure support specialist include infrastructure support, troubleshoot and cloud. The most important skills for a support specialist are customer service, patients, and mental health.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $94,997 | $40,782 |
| Hourly rate | $45.67 | $19.61 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 135,837 | 125,740 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| 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 support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
Infrastructure support specialists and support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $94,997 | $40,782 |
| Salary range | Between $68,000 And $130,000 | Between $25,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New York |
| Best paying company | Barclays | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between an infrastructure support specialist and a support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between infrastructure support specialists' and support specialists' demographics:
| Infrastructure Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.4% Female, 10.6% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| 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, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |