Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between professional technicians and printer 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 printer technician. Additionally, a professional technician has an average salary of $81,726, which is higher than the $36,677 average annual salary of a printer technician.
The top three skills for a professional technician include customer service, cloud and project management. The most important skills for a printer technician are latent prints, troubleshoot, and preventative maintenance.
| Professional Technician | Printer Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $81,726 | $36,677 |
| Hourly rate | $39.29 | $17.63 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 123,659 | 50,147 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| 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.
The printer technician primarily does the installation of new printers. Proper printer configuration on the network ensures and maintains the function of individual printers, scanners, or network printers. The printer technician regularly takes care and does routine repairs, including printer replacements of new ink cartridges. They are also comfortable copying, faxing, producing images, and other related printer issues. It is part of their responsibility to identify and resolve malfunctions, procurement, including the installation of those parts and resolving hardware failures.
Professional technicians and printer technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Professional Technician | Printer Technician | |
| Average salary | $81,726 | $36,677 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $104,000 | Between $26,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Aurora, CO |
| Highest paying state | California | Colorado |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | HP |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between a professional technician and a printer technician in terms of educational background:
| Professional Technician | Printer Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 68% | Bachelor's Degree, 39% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Graphic Design |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between professional technicians' and printer technicians' demographics:
| Professional Technician | Printer Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 72.1% Female, 27.9% | Male, 75.6% Female, 24.4% |
| 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, 11.4% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 10.5% White, 55.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |