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The differences between operations support 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 an operations support technician and a technical support technician. Additionally, a technical support technician has an average salary of $40,210, which is higher than the $38,086 average annual salary of an operations support technician.
The top three skills for an operations support technician include operations support, technical support and data entry. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Operations Support Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $38,086 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $18.31 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 157,716 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An operations support technician primarily performs support tasks to assist teams in various duties and maintain smooth workflow operations. Although the extent of their responsibilities depends on their industry or company of employment, it usually includes performing research and analysis, monitoring stock inventories, replenishing supplies, preparing and processing documentation, conducting installation and repairs, and liaising with internal and external parties. In some situations, an operations support technician may also handle and assist clients by answering inquiries and resolving issues.
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.
Operations support technicians and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Operations Support Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $38,086 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $58,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Menlo Park, CA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | California | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Government | Finance |
There are a few differences between an operations support technician and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Operations Support Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between operations support technicians' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Operations Support Technician | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.8% Female, 34.2% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 11.5% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | 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 | 11% | 11% |