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The differences between technical assistants and executive assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a technical assistant, becoming an executive assistant takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an executive assistant has an average salary of $50,539, which is higher than the $34,159 average annual salary of a technical assistant.
The top three skills for a technical assistant include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for an executive assistant are powerpoint, customer service, and phone calls.
| Technical Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $34,159 | $50,539 |
| Hourly rate | $16.42 | $24.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | -8% |
| Number of jobs | 73,750 | 93,116 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 42 | 49 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 4 |
A technical assistant is responsible for supporting business operations by doing administrative and technical tasks under a direct supervisor or tenured staff. Duties of a technical assistant include creating meeting reports, scheduling events, responding to clients' inquiries through email and phone calls, monitoring office inventories, basic troubleshooting on defective equipment, providing recommendations on product development, and analyzing operations processes. Technical assistants require strong time-management and multi-tasking skills to perform tasks in a fast-paced environment and high-level operations.
Executive assistants are employees who are assigned to work under the supervision of company executives. They manage the activities of the executives they are assigned to by manning the executive's calendar, scheduling appointments, setting meetings, ensuring that the executives are familiar with their schedule for the day, and taking note of any deliverable that may be needed. They are also responsible for taking care of any document or paperwork that the executive needs, as well as preparing presentation materials or briefers for meetings. Executive assistants are also usually exposed to actual company operations to further understand how the business works and to be of better help to the executive.
Technical assistants and executive assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Average salary | $34,159 | $50,539 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $51,000 | Between $35,000 And $71,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New York |
| Best paying company | The American Musical and Dramatic Academy | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical assistant and an executive assistant in terms of educational background:
| Technical Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Western Carolina University |
Here are the differences between technical assistants' and executive assistants' demographics:
| Technical Assistant | Executive Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 49 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.8% Female, 45.2% | Male, 13.1% Female, 86.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 11.9% White, 55.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 7.6% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 11.2% Asian, 5.0% White, 71.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 10% |