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The differences between technical solutions engineers and technical support technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a technical solutions engineer, becoming a technical support technician takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a technical solutions engineer has an average salary of $96,571, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a technical solutions engineer include customer service, broadband and java. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Technical Solutions Engineer | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $96,571 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $46.43 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 140,800 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
A technical solutions engineer is responsible for designing and maintaining the efficiency and stability of network systems and servers to support the business needs and operations, increasing the staff's productivity, and minimizing complicated and time-consuming procedures. Technical solutions engineers conduct quality assessments with the system applications and servers, identify inconsistencies, and develop configuration techniques to improve infrastructure. They also ensure the security of the databases to prevent unauthorized access and activities from unidentified sources outside the organization.
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 solutions engineers and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Solutions Engineer | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $96,571 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $70,000 And $132,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | California | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Apple | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical solutions engineer and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Solutions Engineer | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 56% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Computer Science | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical solutions engineers' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Solutions Engineer | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 44 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 81.6% Female, 18.4% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 1.5% Unknown, 6.1% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 10.1% White, 74.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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 | 7% | 11% |