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The differences between production support technicians and software 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 production support technician and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, which is higher than the $57,726 average annual salary of a production support technician.
The top three skills for a production support technician include troubleshoot, POS and SQL. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Production Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $57,726 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $27.75 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 162,450 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
Production Support Technicians ensure the availability of the materials needed for production. Besides putting preventative maintenance techniques into practice and ensuring that the factory remains safe for each worker, production support technicians also identify faults and troubleshoot where possible. They inspect machinery and update the workers and management about the faults. Also, production support technicians analyze products and performance and then make the right recommendations. Moreover, they ensure that the staff members remain updated about the safety and health regulations.
A software support technician is responsible for resolving software application issues, diagnosing related system failures, and writing resolution reports for reference. Software support technicians must be highly-familiarized with the system's infrastructure and interface to immediately diagnose malfunctions and identify maintenance techniques to prevent the reoccurrence of downtimes and delays. They also assist the system engineers in the configuration and optimization of networks, including the installment of upgrades and patch updates. A software support technician must have excellent organizational and communication skills, especially in navigating computer tools and applications to create support tickets and fix the customers' issues efficiently.
Production support technicians and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Production Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $57,726 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $33,000 And $98,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Jersey City, NJ | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | Jefferies | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Finance |
There are a few differences between a production support technician and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Production Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 46% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between production support technicians' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Production Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 79.2% Female, 20.8% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 12.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |