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The differences between technical assistants and student 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 technical assistant and a student technician. Additionally, a technical assistant has an average salary of $34,159, which is higher than the $28,926 average annual salary of a student technician.
The top three skills for a technical assistant include patients, customer service and patient care. The most important skills for a student technician are java, javascript, and SQL.
| Technical Assistant | Student Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $34,159 | $28,926 |
| Hourly rate | $16.42 | $13.91 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 73,750 | 82,671 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
A student technician is responsible for assisting the school personnel and faculty on utilizing class technologies and other learning equipment. Student technicians accept school requests for setting-up audio-visual equipment during school events, class presentations, and related technical support services. They run multiple diagnostic tests on the systems before actual usage to prevent any defects and inconsistencies during operations. A student technician must have excellent knowledge of the technology and mechanical processes to identify preventive maintenance efficiently.
Technical assistants and student technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Assistant | Student Technician | |
| Average salary | $34,159 | $28,926 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $51,000 | Between $16,000 And $50,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Lakewood, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Vermont |
| Best paying company | The American Musical and Dramatic Academy | Siemens |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | - |
There are a few differences between a technical assistant and a student technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Assistant | Student Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 64% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Duke University |
Here are the differences between technical assistants' and student technicians' demographics:
| Technical Assistant | Student Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.8% Female, 45.2% | Male, 60.7% Female, 39.3% |
| 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, 10.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% Asian, 14.4% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |