Set up technician vs desk support technician

The differences between set up technicians and desk 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 set up technician and a desk support technician. Additionally, a desk support technician has an average salary of $40,715, which is higher than the $36,486 average annual salary of a set up technician.

The top three skills for a set up technician include hand tools, CNC and safety procedures. The most important skills for a desk support technician are customer service, technical support, and troubleshoot.

Set up technician vs desk support technician overview

	Set Up Technician	Desk Support Technician
Yearly salary	$36,486	$40,715
Hourly rate	$17.54	$19.57
Growth rate	10%	10%
Number of jobs	53,072	130,485
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	2	2

What does a set up technician do?

Set up technicians are skilled employees who assemble and disassemble manufacturing machines as well as perform preventative maintenance to ensure that the manufacturing firm can produce high-quality products. These technicians must inspect products so that they can locate malfunctions in machine operations and then inform their supervisor about the repairs needed. They must observe production equipment to ensure its correct operation and collaborate with the engineering team to adjust the equipment when needed. Set up technicians must also assist in teaching new operators about the firm's standard operating procedures of production equipment.

What does a desk support technician do?

A desktop support technician is responsible for assisting end-users with their network issues, grant authorization requests, and create user accounts. Desktop support technicians maintain the safety and security of networks, preventing unauthorized access and illegal dissemination of database information. They also handle the software configurations and upgrading the network infrastructure to avoid system downtimes and operational delays. A desktop support technician must have excellent communication and technical skills to monitor systems performance and enhance network navigation.

Set up technician vs desk support technician salary

Set up technicians and desk support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Set Up Technician	Desk Support Technician
Average salary	$36,486	$40,715
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $46,000	Between $26,000 And $62,000
Highest paying City	Manchester, NH	South San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	New York	California
Best paying company	Zoetis	BNY Mellon
Best paying industry	Professional	Technology

Differences between set up technician and desk support technician education

There are a few differences between a set up technician and a desk support technician in terms of educational background:

	Set Up Technician	Desk Support Technician
Most common degree	High School Diploma, 39%	Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	-	Stanford University

Set up technician vs desk support technician demographics

Here are the differences between set up technicians' and desk support technicians' demographics:

	Set Up Technician	Desk Support Technician
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 90.1% Female, 9.9%	Male, 82.6% Female, 17.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 10.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 15.3% Asian, 8.9% White, 59.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%	Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 11.7% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4%
LGBT Percentage	11%	11%

Differences between set up technician and desk support technician duties and responsibilities

Set up technician example responsibilities.

Manage daily scheduling of production workload to be setup and run on machinery.
Follow OSHA, ISO, and FDA requirement and standards
Core team member in SPC and QSI introductions.
Set up machine and facilities for UV screen coating.
Maintain running UV press, flip paper, unload orders.
Set up and maintain extrusion equipment to run at maximum efficiency.

Desk support technician example responsibilities.

Manage backups, replications and disaster recovery plans of company mission critical servers and database files to ensure redundancy.
Use multiple monitor setup display and remote desktop applications via VPN to access associate computers.
Utilize desktop deployment tools in order to deploy and maintain inventory for PCs, monitors, and printers.
Assist with network connectivity with PCs, laptops, and mobile phones including TCP/IP settings and internet connections.
Provide administrative support and troubleshooting for VPN users.
Maintain company networks security systems and infrastructure hardware including firewalls and switches and install software security and firmware patches or upgrades.

Set up technician vs desk support technician skills

Common set up technician skills

Hand Tools, 8%
CNC, 6%
Safety Procedures, 5%
Quality Standards, 5%
Preventative Maintenance, 5%
Math, 4%

Common desk support technician skills

Customer Service, 11%
Technical Support, 8%
Troubleshoot, 7%
Phone Calls, 5%
Desk Side Support, 5%
Remote Troubleshooting, 4%

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Set Up Technician
Set Up Technician vs Desk Support Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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