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Technical assistant vs technical support representative

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 vs technical support representative overview

Technical AssistantTechnical Support Representative
Yearly salary$34,159$34,758
Hourly rate$16.42$16.71
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs73,750212,082
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 53%Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age4242
Years of experience22

What does a technical assistant do?

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.

What does a technical support representative do?

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 assistant vs technical support representative salary

Technical assistants and technical support representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.

Technical AssistantTechnical Support Representative
Average salary$34,159$34,758
Salary rangeBetween $22,000 And $51,000Between $27,000 And $44,000
Highest paying CityBoston, MABoston, MA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsMaryland
Best paying companyThe American Musical and Dramatic AcademyHP
Best paying industryInsuranceTechnology

Differences between technical assistant and technical support representative education

There are a few differences between a technical assistant and a technical support representative in terms of educational background:

Technical AssistantTechnical Support Representative
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 53%Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Technical assistant vs technical support representative demographics

Here are the differences between technical assistants' and technical support representatives' demographics:

Technical AssistantTechnical Support Representative
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 54.8% Female, 45.2%Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5%
Race ratioBlack 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 Percentage11%11%

Differences between technical assistant and technical support representative duties and responsibilities

Technical assistant example responsibilities.

  • Create and manage original MARC records from OCLC database including verification, editing and updating of data and shelf list.
  • Manage customer complaints and internal GMP audits for product manufacturing, coordinate FDA audits and recommend corrective actions.
  • Input service reports into AS400 using 10 key.
  • Assist with ambulation, transfer from bed to chair and CPR certify.
  • Work involve development in PHP with back end as MYSQL server database.
  • Operate heat sealers, centrifuges, sterile docking equipment, and irradiation unit.
  • Show more

Technical support representative example responsibilities.

  • Serve as a SME and the main point of contact when agents and other leads have questions.
  • Answer eligibility and coverage questions from insurance agents pertaining to Medicare advantage plans and prescription drug plans.
  • Manage mental health portion of health insurance policies including Medicaid and Medicare and other commercial insurance plans nationwide.
  • Generate nationwide reservations provide customer service and negotiating customer dispute (inbound and outbound calls).
  • Work with QA to identify problems and resolutions base on customer issues.
  • Provide product information to customers inquiring about their iPhone, iPod, and iPad features.
  • Show more

Technical assistant vs technical support representative skills

Common technical assistant skills
  • Patients, 23%
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Patient Care, 11%
  • Technical Assistance, 6%
  • Lab Equipment, 5%
  • Phlebotomy, 4%
Common technical support representative skills
  • Customer Calls, 14%
  • Smartphones, 9%
  • Technical Support Calls, 7%
  • Work Ethic, 6%
  • Internet Connectivity, 6%
  • Customer Service, 5%

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