Office technician vs office assistant

The differences between office technicians and office assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an office technician and an office assistant. Additionally, an office technician has an average salary of $34,956, which is higher than the $31,517 average annual salary of an office assistant.

The top three skills for an office technician include data entry, patients and office equipment. The most important skills for an office assistant are data entry, patients, and customer service.

Office technician vs office assistant overview

	Office Technician	Office Assistant
Yearly salary	$34,956	$31,517
Hourly rate	$16.81	$15.15
Growth rate	-5%	-5%
Number of jobs	82,512	103,293
Job satisfaction	-	5
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Average age	47	47
Years of experience	2	2

What does an office technician do?

An Office Technician handles installation and repair tasks by using power tools and manual equipment safely and effectively. Besides installing, maintaining, and repairing central office equipment, an office technician also installs, tests, and labels cable lines. They deactivate, activate, and maintain office equipment. Other duties performed by office technicians include removing non-functional and unused office equipment, managing equipment stations and telecommunication rooms cabling, and maintaining inspection, repair, maintenance, and installation documents. Also, these professionals work as per environmental, safety, and health policies.

What does an office assistant do?

Office assistants perform various tasks to ensure that the business runs organized and efficient. An office assistant must possess excellent communication and multi-tasking skills to handle essential duties such as scheduling meetings, monitoring office supplies, storing documents and necessary paperwork, handling customer inquiries and appointments, coordinating in company events, and accomplishing other clerical tasks and administrative support. Office assistants are also required to communicate any observation that would possibly make an impact on the company's performance.

Office technician vs office assistant salary

Office technicians and office assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Office Technician	Office Assistant
Average salary	$34,956	$31,517
Salary range	Between $25,000 And $48,000	Between $24,000 And $41,000
Highest paying City	Anchorage, AK	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	Hawaii	Vermont
Best paying company	Motorola Solutions	Analysis Group
Best paying industry	Construction	Government

Differences between office technician and office assistant education

There are a few differences between an office technician and an office assistant in terms of educational background:

	Office Technician	Office Assistant
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 36%	Bachelor's Degree, 42%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	Western Carolina University	Western Carolina University

Office technician vs office assistant demographics

Here are the differences between office technicians' and office assistants' demographics:

	Office Technician	Office Assistant
Average age	47	47
Gender ratio	Male, 30.0% Female, 70.0%	Male, 17.3% Female, 82.7%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 23.2% Asian, 8.5% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.9%	Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 21.0% Asian, 8.3% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between office technician and office assistant duties and responsibilities

Office technician example responsibilities.

Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Interact with SCO divisions, other agencies and campuses and the public, to resolve distribution problems concerning mail and payroll.
Communicate payroll information with employees.
Verify eligibility and coverage with Medicaid and Medicare.
Certify to perform refraction to patients participating in clinical trials.
Provide patients with surgical and procedural information and instructions as appropriate.

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Office assistant example responsibilities.

Manage filing, photocopying, collating, and faxing public and seal case documents.
Manage CI s SharePoint pages and serve as CI s subject matter expert on SharePoint working groups.
Manage operational FedEx relationship through order fulfillment, shipment tracking, and communication with parties involve in shipment transaction.
Compile payroll records, detect and reconcile discrepancies, accurately report outcomes using QuickBooks.
Maintain office services by organizing office operations and procedures, preparing payroll, controlling correspondences, and designing filing systems.
File client paperwork upholding HIPAA standards.

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Office technician vs office assistant skills

Common office technician skills

Data Entry, 16%
Patients, 11%
Office Equipment, 7%
Office Procedures, 7%
Word Processing, 5%
Payroll, 4%

Common office assistant skills

Data Entry, 16%
Patients, 14%
Customer Service, 9%
Telephone Calls, 7%
Scheduling Appointments, 6%
Front Desk, 6%

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Updated January 8, 2025

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