Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between operations support specialists and support analysts can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an operations support specialist and a support analyst. Additionally, a support analyst has an average salary of $75,989, which is higher than the $44,233 average annual salary of an operations support specialist.
The top three skills for an operations support specialist include operations support, customer service and data entry. The most important skills for a support analyst are customer service, troubleshoot, and technical support.
| Operations Support Specialist | Support Analyst | |
| Yearly salary | $44,233 | $75,989 |
| Hourly rate | $21.27 | $36.53 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 176,034 | 107,039 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
The duties of an operations support specialist depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around addressing issues and concerns, troubleshooting, and conducting corrective measures, all while adhering to the company's policies and regulations. They may also evaluate the processes in a company, identifying vulnerabilities, and recommending improvements. Furthermore, an operations support specialist must also perform clerical tasks such as producing progress reports and presentations, arranging schedules, assessing workforce performance, and maintaining accurate records.
The role of support analysts is to resolve problems with hardware, computer programs, and peripherals. They may focus on a particular aspect of the information technology (IT) department or give technical support to end-users. They mainly detect issues with IT equipment and software and devise solutions to resolve these issues. Also, they are responsible for answering queries from users, preparing service records, and handling escalations. Support analysts also support the company's IT operations and best practices by creating and distributing relevant IT documents.
Operations support specialists and support analysts have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operations Support Specialist | Support Analyst | |
| Average salary | $44,233 | $75,989 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $71,000 | Between $50,000 And $114,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | KLA | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Automotive | Finance |
There are a few differences between an operations support specialist and a support analyst in terms of educational background:
| Operations Support Specialist | Support Analyst | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 62% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between operations support specialists' and support analysts' demographics:
| Operations Support Specialist | Support Analyst | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 44.0% Female, 56.0% | Male, 63.1% Female, 36.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.0% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 12.2% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 12.9% White, 54.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |