What is a Signal Support Specialist?

This job involves performing signal support functions and technical assistance for computer systems, providing technical service for local area networks, and maintaining equipment, terminal devices, power generators, and vehicles.

To qualify for signal support systems specialist, applicants first need to complete ten weeks of basic combat training (also known as boot camp) and sixteen weeks of advanced individual training (AIT). They have to divide this time between the classroom and the field and receive the training.

During training, they will learn mechanical and electrical principles, preventive and maintenance procedures, communication security policies and procedures, and line installation and wiring techniques.

The typical signal support systems specialist salary is $35,871, but can range from $19,878 to $86,424. However, this figure can vary significantly per training and experience.

What Does a Signal Support Specialist Do

There are certain skills that many signal support specialists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed customer-service skills, listening skills and problem-solving skills.

How To Become a Signal Support Specialist

If you're interested in becoming a signal support specialist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 34.8% of signal support specialists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.0% of signal support specialists have master's degrees. Even though some signal support specialists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Top Signal Support Specialist Jobs Near You

Signal Support Specialist Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of technician you might progress to a role such as team leader eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title service manager.

Signal Support Specialist

Average Salary for a Signal Support Specialist

Signal Support Specialists in America make an average salary of $49,385 per year or $24 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $83,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $29,000 per year.
Average Signal Support Specialist Salary
$49,385 Yearly
$23.74 hourly

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Signal Support Specialist

There are several types of signal support specialist, including:

Technical Support Engineer

Role:

If you're looking to work in a fast-paced industry, to make a difference, and thrive on new challenges while having the opportunity to grow, becoming a technical support engineer might be right up your alley. Starting a career as a technical support engineer is one of the most dynamic, fast-paced, and exciting roles. Technical support is a field that offers you valuable practical experience, expands your soft-skills, keeps you right on the cutting edge of technological advancement. You may frequently learn and engage with the latest technology solutions.

Working as a technical support engineer (or IT support engineer), you may provide first-hand technical assistance to clients experiencing technical faults. You might resolve issues within different computer systems such as software, hardware, and other network-related or IT-related problems. Typically, the technical support engineer is a mid-career position that provides high-level job satisfaction and diverse working environments. As an IT support engineer, you'll work in a wide range of industries, such as telecom, automobile, medical, healthcare services, information technology, aerospace, and many more. While providing technical support to the customers, you may work in shifts, on-call, or solve the issue in-person, via phone, or a computer. You might even work traditional nine-to-five weekday hours when providing services to the company employees.

To join the technical support field, most aspiring IT support engineers hold a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, information technology, or a closely related discipline. However, you might be able to secure this role without a degree if you have a strong customer service background and proven experience as a technical support engineer or desktop support engineer. To excel in your role as a technical support engineer, you must have excellent problem-solving skills, attention to detail, and an ability to troubleshoot complex and diverse technical issues effectively. Working as an IT support engineer, you may earn an average annual wage of $70,000 along with compensation benefits. Besides offering higher wages, a position in technical support may offer more sophisticated opportunities to grow. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the employment opportunities for technical support engineers expect to grow 11 percent between 2016 and 2026, which is much faster than the nationwide average for all occupations. It means that more exciting opportunities are foreseeable in the future to you as a technical support engineer.

  • Average Salary: $85,716
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Support

Role:

A technical support specialist provides assistance and technical support to either businesses or consumers that are experiencing technical, hardware, and software issues. They educate, answer questions, and troubleshoot any problems with technology-based products and services by asking specific questions in order to understand the issues. They should be patient and understanding and have good communication skills so that they're able to explain the problem to frustrated customers.

If a technical support specialist works for an organization, they will often conduct ongoing testing of the company's existing systems and software programs. They also test new software and hardware, provide feedback to the vendor, and make sure the products are compatible with the company's existing equipment and software.

They should have at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or a related field. A technical support specialist is also expected to have a genuine desire to help clients, to be polite and humble, and to have excellent communication skills, interpersonal skills, and customer service skills.

Although a bachelor's degree is sufficient for this role, having a master's degree might put you at an advantage over competition. However, a high school diploma is not enough to qualify you for this job. Technical support specialists earn an average of $23.63 per hour. This translates to $49,143 annually, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

  • Average Salary: $36,227
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Systems Support

Role:

The duties of systems support include performing technical configurations, resolving system applications and network issues, and upgrading systems infrastructure. They conduct regular maintenance and diagnostic tests on the computer applications to ensure their performance optimally. They ensure it is efficient to support business operations and avoid delays in deliverables. Additionally, they help in improving existing networks based on business needs and specifications. Asides from that, they keep reports of resolutions for reference to prevent similar occurrences.

For this position, you need to have at least an associate's degree or a bachelor's degree in computer science, information technology, or a related discipline. You will be working with computer operating systems and hardware. You must possess time management, communication, computer, and problem-solving skills. Also, you must be physically fit. Systems support earns an average gross salary of $59,774 or $28.74 per hour. This varies from $42,000 to $84,000.

  • Average Salary: $64,031
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Signal Support Specialist Jobs

Number Of Signal Support Specialist Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California5,366$58,626
2Texas2,221$46,093
3Florida2,111$42,008
4Michigan1,533$54,450
5New York1,505$72,553
6Illinois1,447$52,617
7Washington1,348$44,430
8Virginia1,292$55,285
9Pennsylvania1,287$56,587
10Georgia1,222$43,665
11Massachusetts1,189$74,266
12North Carolina1,078$51,904
13Maryland974$62,334
14Ohio896$59,026
15Arizona843$48,423
16New Jersey835$64,036
17Minnesota765$58,306
18Colorado742$45,652
19South Carolina659$45,323
20Indiana658$48,327
21Wisconsin655$51,967
22Alabama655$44,211
23Missouri645$45,181
24Tennessee613$42,706
25Louisiana536$42,117
26Oregon518$51,906
27Arkansas493$40,345
28Iowa491$44,064
29Utah475$44,269
30Oklahoma466$44,107
31Kentucky381$51,118
32Nevada380$55,044
33Kansas361$44,231
34Connecticut352$63,206
35New Mexico323$40,393
36Nebraska309$39,287
37Idaho230$39,763
38Maine222$52,247
39Mississippi205$37,898
40South Dakota202$39,293
41New Hampshire200$61,963
42Hawaii176$43,897
43Delaware164$66,082
44Montana163$40,243
45West Virginia143$47,543
46North Dakota136$51,218
47Rhode Island133$63,427
48Alaska133$31,772
49Vermont119$63,817
50Wyoming107$39,282

Signal Support Specialist Education

Signal Support Specialist Majors

Business
13.8 %
Information Technology
11.9 %
Computer Information Systems
10.9 %

Signal Support Specialist Degrees

Bachelors

34.8 %

High School Diploma

28.5 %

Associate

27.0 %

Top Colleges for Signal Support Specialists

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. Maine Maritime Academy

Castine, ME • Private

In-State Tuition

$13,478

Enrollment

979

5. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

6. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

7. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

8. Villanova University

Villanova, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,308

Enrollment

6,819

9. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

10. Bentley University

Waltham, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$49,880

Enrollment

4,177

Top Skills For a Signal Support Specialist

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 33.8% of signal support specialists listed provide technical assistance on their resume, but soft skills such as customer-service skills and listening skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Signal Support Specialist Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Signal Support Specialist templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Signal Support Specialist resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Signal Support Specialist diversity

Signal Support Specialist Gender Distribution

Male
Male
81%
Female
Female
20%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among signal support specialists, 19.5% of them are women, while 80.5% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among signal support specialists is White, which makes up 56.0% of all signal support specialists.

  • The most common foreign language among signal support specialists is Spanish at 78.0%.

Online Courses For Signal Support Specialist That You May Like

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1. Introduction to Technical Support

coursera

Gain the daily work skills and knowledge you’ll need for IT Technical Support career success. This course, part of the IBM Technical Support Professional Certificate, is designed for beginners with no prior IT experience or formal degree. Get an insider’s view into IT Support work. Learn about IT Support roles and levels, the support escalation matrix, ticketing systems, common support tools, and remote support software. Then, hear about career opportunities and career pathways from...

2. Technical Support Case Studies and Capstone

coursera

This course allows you to show what you’ve learned in the previous IT Technical Support professional certification courses and apply that knowledge to realistic situations. The IT Technical Support Capstone leads you through a series of technical support case studies that require hands-on work to resolve. You will practice analyzing user help requests and troubleshooting various issues. You’ll demonstrate your knowledge of hardware, software, networking, security, and cloud computing. You’ll...

3. Signals and Systems: From Basics to Advance

udemy
4.3
(287)

Learn the fundamental characteristics of signals and systems, Fourier Transform and Z-Transform from basic to advance...

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Top Signal Support Specialist Employers

Most Common Employers For Signal Support Specialist

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Stantec$69,191$33.264
2Lockheed Martin$59,367$28.543
3The Mosaic Company$52,633$25.305
4E2 Consulting Engineers, Inc.$51,483$24.751
5Iowa National Guard$50,888$24.4713
6Washington Army National Guard$50,814$24.434
7National Guard$50,646$24.3551
8Usar$50,209$24.146
9Fort Hood Family Housing$49,537$23.823
10Oregon Army National Guard$49,534$23.813
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Updated April 6, 2023