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The differences between support specialists and engineering technicians 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 an engineering technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an engineering technician has an average salary of $60,273, which is higher than the $40,782 average annual salary of a support specialist.
The top three skills for a support specialist include customer service, patients and mental health. The most important skills for an engineering technician are technical support, data collection, and test equipment.
| Support Specialist | Engineering Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $40,782 | $60,273 |
| Hourly rate | $19.61 | $28.98 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 3% |
| Number of jobs | 125,740 | 111,343 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
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.
An Engineering Technician's duties vary according to the industry or company, whether mechanical, industrial, civil, agricultural, or more. However, most of the time, the responsibilities often revolve around resolving technical issues, working with and assisting Engineers in building, assembling, designing, gathering and testing data, and conducting more manual activities. Furthermore, Engineering Technicians can specialize and work in various fields after a certain training period, closely mentored or monitored by an engineer or someone with extensive expertise.
Support specialists and engineering technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Specialist | Engineering Technician | |
| Average salary | $40,782 | $60,273 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $64,000 | Between $37,000 And $96,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | Washington |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Western Digital |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a support specialist and an engineering technician in terms of educational background:
| Support Specialist | Engineering Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Purdue University |
Here are the differences between support specialists' and engineering technicians' demographics:
| Support Specialist | Engineering Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1% |
| 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, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 9.2% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 6% |