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The differences between network technicians and technical 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 a network technician and a technical support technician. Additionally, a network technician has an average salary of $68,938, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a network technician include customer service, switches and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Network Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $68,938 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $33.14 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 79,712 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A network technician is responsible for system malfunction diagnosis and troubleshooting operations. Network technicians duties' include repairing damaged system components, analyzing computer systems and blueprints, installing network connections, and upgrading accessories for efficient operations. Other duties include assisting customers with technical issues, ensuring computer systems' privacy, creating documents of network issues and resolutions, and suggesting alternative equipment for network backups. A network technician must have a broad knowledge of the technology industry and mechanical processes, plus the ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision.
Technical support technicians are skilled professionals who resolve computer or information technology-related concerns. They may do installations, repairs, or maintenance activities of various applications or computer hardware. They are sometimes assigned specific issues or concerns to resolve so that they will not be bombarded with various issues. This means that they can now specialize in a specific family of concerns. Technical support technicians may provide on-site support, going directly to the person who needs help and doing what needs to be done or troubleshoot the problem in person. They may also be offsite and would usually be manning helpdesk hotlines. Offsite technical support technicians walk the caller through the steps they should do to fix the issues. As such, when a technical support technician is offsite, they are expected to be good communicators and will be able to provide clear instructions.
Network technicians and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Network Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $68,938 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $51,000 And $92,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Urban Honolulu, HI | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a network technician and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Network Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between network technicians' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Network Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 87.3% Female, 12.7% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.6% Asian, 9.4% White, 63.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 11% |