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The differences between professional technicians and customer 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 professional technician and a customer support technician. Additionally, a professional technician has an average salary of $81,726, which is higher than the $36,361 average annual salary of a customer support technician.
The top three skills for a professional technician include customer service, cloud and project management. The most important skills for a customer support technician are customer service, customer support, and SQL.
| Professional Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $81,726 | $36,361 |
| Hourly rate | $39.29 | $17.48 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 123,659 | 117,102 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A professional technician is responsible for handling the complexities of technical and mechanical systems, repair defective components, and recommend technical solutions to enhance the company's productivity and efficiency in delivering high-quality deliverables. Professional technicians must be highly skilled in analyzing schematics and blueprints to assemble components and perform troubleshooting. They also manage the adequacy of inventories, create purchase requests, and identify costs and expenses for repairs and installations. A professional technician must be highly communicative and organization, especially in handling tasks with utmost adherence to safety protocols and regulations.
A customer support technician is responsible for resolving customer complaints with their network issues through remote communication, providing the customers with a step-by-step procedure to fix their systems. Customer support technicians assist the customers in setting up their programs and applications, guiding them with the instructional manuals, and responding to the inquiries and concerns they have. They also escalate high-level complaints to the immediate supervisor as needed while monitoring system solutions and creating technical tickets.
Professional technicians and customer support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $81,726 | $36,361 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $104,000 | Between $23,000 And $56,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | California | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Adobe |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a professional technician and a customer support technician in terms of educational background:
| Professional Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between professional technicians' and customer support technicians' demographics:
| Professional Technician | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 72.1% Female, 27.9% | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.0% Asian, 12.8% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |