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The differences between product specialists and product technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a product specialist, becoming a product technician takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a product specialist has an average salary of $85,932, which is higher than the $67,026 average annual salary of a product technician.
The top three skills for a product specialist include customer service, product knowledge and sales floor. The most important skills for a product technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and product support.
| Product Specialist | Product Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $85,932 | $67,026 |
| Hourly rate | $41.31 | $32.22 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 103,863 | 99,755 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 37 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
A product specialist is required to have excellent knowledge about a product and work with a business unit to ensure excellent product delivery. Product specialists perform product demonstrations to customers and other stakeholders and assist in their promotions and product releases. To gain increased revenue, product specialists must be able to identify new market opportunities. They are required to conduct product and sales training for the marketing team. They must also provide reports about their product-related activities to the management.
Product technicians are skilled professionals who are responsible for evaluating manufactured goods to ensure quality and functionality before they are marketed to the general public. These technicians are required to perform equipment setup and adjustments while conducting minor preventative maintenance tasks to test for safety and productivity before they are put into production. By using their technical knowledge, they must identify problems such as mechanical issues and safety issues while providing potential solutions to the issues. Product technicians must also ensure that finished products conform to specifications and codes.
Product specialists and product technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Product Specialist | Product Technician | |
| Average salary | $85,932 | $67,026 |
| Salary range | Between $56,000 And $130,000 | Between $36,000 And $123,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Bruno, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | ByteDance | PayPal |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between a product specialist and a product technician in terms of educational background:
| Product Specialist | Product Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 64% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Georgia | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between product specialists' and product technicians' demographics:
| Product Specialist | Product Technician | |
| Average age | 37 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 59.8% Female, 40.2% | Male, 85.8% Female, 14.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.2% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 12.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 66.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 9.4% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.6% Asian, 7.5% White, 60.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 6% |