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The differences between support specialists and customer support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a support specialist, becoming a customer support specialist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a support specialist has an average salary of $40,782, which is higher than the $39,470 average annual salary of a customer support specialist.
The top three skills for a support specialist include customer service, patients and mental health. The most important skills for a customer support specialist are customer support, phone calls, and compassion.
| Support Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $40,782 | $39,470 |
| Hourly rate | $19.61 | $18.98 |
| Growth rate | 10% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 125,740 | 259,592 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | 1 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Average age | 42 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
A support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
A customer support specialist is responsible for assisting a customer's inquiries and concerns regarding the goods and services the organization offers. Customer support specialists handle customer issues and resolve them promptly, escalating high-level complaints to the immediate supervisors. A support specialist will also replace products or process payment refunds as needed. Their goal is to maintain the highest customer satisfaction and keep a good reputation for the company while driving revenues and increasing profitability. A customer support specialist must have outstanding communication skills, as well as the ability to multi-task to record customer complaint cases while providing resolution.
Support specialists and customer support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $40,782 | $39,470 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $64,000 | Between $28,000 And $55,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | New York | Rhode Island |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Micron Technology |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a support specialist and a customer support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Support Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 49% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | - |
Here are the differences between support specialists' and customer support specialists' demographics:
| Support Specialist | Customer Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 37.4% Female, 62.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.9% Asian, 7.2% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 7% |