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The differences between technical associates and technical support 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 associate and a technical support technician. Additionally, a technical associate has an average salary of $86,489, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a technical associate include customer service, java and patients. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Technical Associate | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $86,489 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $41.58 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 83,261 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
The duties of a technical associate depend on one's line of work or industry of employment. Typically, their responsibilities revolve around installing and repairing software and applications, troubleshooting, and conducting regular tests and maintenance to ensure smooth workflow. They must also handle and address inquiries or concerns from clients, resolving them promptly and professionally. Moreover, a technical associate mostly works under the directives of a manager or a more experienced staff; they usually coordinate with team members and produce progress reports.
Technical support technicians are skilled professionals who resolve computer or information technology-related concerns. They may do installations, repairs, or maintenance activities of various applications or computer hardware. They are sometimes assigned specific issues or concerns to resolve so that they will not be bombarded with various issues. This means that they can now specialize in a specific family of concerns. Technical support technicians may provide on-site support, going directly to the person who needs help and doing what needs to be done or troubleshoot the problem in person. They may also be offsite and would usually be manning helpdesk hotlines. Offsite technical support technicians walk the caller through the steps they should do to fix the issues. As such, when a technical support technician is offsite, they are expected to be good communicators and will be able to provide clear instructions.
Technical associates and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Associate | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $86,489 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $122,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Mateo, CA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Delaware | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | The Citadel | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Internet | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical associate and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Associate | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical associates' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Associate | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 65.8% Female, 34.2% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.9% Asian, 15.0% White, 54.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |