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The differences between technical assistants and technical support representatives 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 technical support representative. Additionally, a technical support representative has an average salary of $34,758, 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 a technical support representative are customer calls, smartphones, and technical support calls.
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $34,159 | $34,758 |
| Hourly rate | $16.42 | $16.71 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 73,750 | 212,082 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| 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.
Technical Support Representatives specialize in customer support through calls or correspondence. Among the primary responsibilities of a Technical Support Representative involves receiving and making calls, address and troubleshoot issues raised by the client, assist when navigating through complicated applications, provide suggestions or recommendations, or elevate the problem to personnel with higher expertise when necessary. Furthermore, a Technical Support Representative must coordinate with supervisors at all times, remain patient and proactive, and as well as maintain and organize records of each handled calls.
Technical assistants and technical support representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Representative | |
| Average salary | $34,159 | $34,758 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $51,000 | Between $27,000 And $44,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | Maryland |
| Best paying company | The American Musical and Dramatic Academy | HP |
| Best paying industry | Insurance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical assistant and a technical support representative in terms of educational background:
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical assistants' and technical support representatives' demographics:
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Representative | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.8% Female, 45.2% | Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5% |
| 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, 11.4% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |