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The differences between support specialists and information specialists 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 specialist and an information specialist. Additionally, an information specialist has an average salary of $69,502, 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 information specialist are patients, data entry, and customer service.
| Support Specialist | Information Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $40,782 | $69,502 |
| Hourly rate | $19.61 | $33.41 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 125,740 | 121,168 |
| Job satisfaction | 3 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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 information specialist is responsible for obtaining data through various strategies such as surveys, research, and analysis. It is essential to coordinate with different teams to learn their data needs and utilize them upon gathering. There may also be instances where an information specialist must work with other groups for tasks, such as building databases and networks. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure data integrity, protect their source's identities, adhere to all the company's policies and regulations, and abide by the state law when gathering information.
Support specialists and information specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Support Specialist | Information Specialist | |
| Average salary | $40,782 | $69,502 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $64,000 | Between $40,000 And $118,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Trenton, NJ |
| Highest paying state | New York | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Crowell & Moring |
| Best paying industry | Technology | - |
There are a few differences between a support specialist and an information specialist in terms of educational background:
| Support Specialist | Information Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 52% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between support specialists' and information specialists' demographics:
| Support Specialist | Information Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% | Male, 33.9% Female, 66.1% |
| 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, 11.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |