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The differences between technical assistants and technical support 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 technical assistant and a technical support specialist. Additionally, a technical support specialist has an average salary of $48,667, 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 specialist are customer service, technical support, and troubleshoot.
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $34,159 | $48,667 |
| Hourly rate | $16.42 | $23.40 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 73,750 | 157,425 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4.6 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| 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 technical support specialist is responsible for assisting customer's and businesses' concerns and system issues by performing troubleshooting and remote solutions. These specialists must have extensive knowledge of system applications, including software and hardware database to handle complex processes that might affect the end user's experience or the business' daily operations. Technical support specialists should maintain excellent communication skills to guide the client and business on solving network problems. They must also document concerns and progress promptly for reference and quality checks.
Technical assistants and technical support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $34,159 | $48,667 |
| Salary range | Between $22,000 And $51,000 | Between $30,000 And $76,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New Jersey |
| 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 a technical support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 53% | Bachelor's Degree, 50% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical assistants' and technical support specialists' demographics:
| Technical Assistant | Technical Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 54.8% Female, 45.2% | Male, 75.4% Female, 24.6% |
| 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, 11.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 11.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |