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The differences between technical interns 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 internship and a technical support technician. Additionally, a technical support technician has an average salary of $40,210, which is higher than the $38,417 average annual salary of a technical internship.
The top three skills for a technical internship include python, java and patients. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Technical Internship | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $38,417 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $18.47 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 119,178 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
In a technical internship, the responsibilities will vary according to the organization or industry. Despite this, most of the tasks will revolve around accomplishing tasks or directives handed out by managers or supervisors, which might include duties such as researching and analyzing, crafting new ideas from scratch, assisting other personnel, and sharing insights during discussions. One may also have to create or improve systems, detect issues, provide solutions, and maintain an active communication line with team members.
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 interns and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Internship | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $38,417 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $54,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Hillsboro, OR | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | OCC | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Telecommunication | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical internship and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Internship | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 50% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Medical Technician | Business |
| Most common college | Duke University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical interns' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Internship | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 58.9% Female, 41.1% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.3% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.2% Asian, 15.1% White, 53.6% 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% |