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The differences between support agents 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 support agent and a customer support technician. Additionally, a customer support technician has an average salary of $36,361, which is higher than the $36,045 average annual salary of a support agent.
The top three skills for a support agent include reservations, customer service and data entry. The most important skills for a customer support technician are customer service, customer support, and SQL.
| Support Agent | Customer Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $36,045 | $36,361 |
| Hourly rate | $17.33 | $17.48 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 106,016 | 117,102 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
As the name entails, the job of a customer support agent is to provide excellent support and assistance to both new and existing customers. You will provide customers with information on products or services, oversee and resolve customer complaints, cancellations, errors, and other issues, assist in maintaining customer satisfaction and retention. Additionally, a customer support agent is responsible for encouraging customers to purchase a product or service and educating them about the product. You are also expected to accurately process emails and fax communications with customers.
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.
Support agents and customer support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Agent | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $36,045 | $36,361 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $59,000 | Between $23,000 And $56,000 |
| Highest paying City | Hamilton, NJ | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Salesforce | Adobe |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a support agent and a customer support technician in terms of educational background:
| Support Agent | Customer Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between support agents' and customer support technicians' demographics:
| Support Agent | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 47.2% Female, 52.8% | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.2% 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% |