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The differences between repair technicians and technical services engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a repair technician, becoming a technical services engineer takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a technical services engineer has an average salary of $81,204, which is higher than the $41,643 average annual salary of a repair technician.
The top three skills for a repair technician include customer service, hand tools and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a technical services engineer are customer service, technical support, and technical service.
| Repair Technician | Technical Services Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $41,643 | $81,204 |
| Hourly rate | $20.02 | $39.04 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 2% |
| Number of jobs | 162,051 | 217,103 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Average age | 47 | 41 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 6 |
A repair technician's role focuses on assessing the problem or damage of a device and implementing solutions for it to function again. Although the extent of a technician's tasks will depend on the device or industry of employment, most of it revolves around troubleshooting, providing technical support, installing and writing programs, detaching and re-attaching wirings, welding, and even thoroughly discussing problems and solutions to clients. Furthermore, there are instances when a repair technician must work in a team setting that requires coordination and communication.
A technical services engineer is responsible for assisting customers on their systems and network issues, providing them the best technical solutions, and guiding them on step-by-step procedures for troubleshooting. Technical services engineers must have excellent communication and technical skills, especially on identifying customers' system failures by asking them a few questions. They also escalate high-level complaints to internal teams, ensuring that they present the client's issues for reference. A technical services engineer also handles systems configuration and recommending process improvement techniques to optimize network infrastructure.
Repair technicians and technical services engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Repair Technician | Technical Services Engineer | |
| Average salary | $41,643 | $81,204 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $63,000 | Between $57,000 And $115,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Washington |
| Best paying company | SoCalGas | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Technology |
There are a few differences between a repair technician and a technical services engineer in terms of educational background:
| Repair Technician | Technical Services Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 66% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Chemical Engineering |
| Most common college | - | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between repair technicians' and technical services engineers' demographics:
| Repair Technician | Technical Services Engineer | |
| Average age | 47 | 41 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7% | Male, 88.0% Female, 12.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 4.6% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | Black or African American, 3.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.3% Asian, 11.4% White, 71.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 2% | 5% |