Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical support advisors and software 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 support advisor and a software support technician. Additionally, a technical support advisor has an average salary of $107,198, which is higher than the $79,670 average annual salary of a software support technician.
The top three skills for a technical support advisor include customer service, technical support calls and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Technical Support Advisor | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $107,198 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $51.54 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 186,490 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A technical support advisor specializes in assisting customers, mainly through diagnosing and solving issues using their product and service expertise. In most companies, they communicate with clients through calls or correspondence. Through this, they get to identify their needs, answer inquiries, give technical advice, troubleshoot problems, and solve issues and concerns, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Moreover, a technical support advisor works together with the company's internal departments to optimize customer support operations and resolve any issues or vulnerabilities in the current procedures.
A software support technician is responsible for resolving software application issues, diagnosing related system failures, and writing resolution reports for reference. Software support technicians must be highly-familiarized with the system's infrastructure and interface to immediately diagnose malfunctions and identify maintenance techniques to prevent the reoccurrence of downtimes and delays. They also assist the system engineers in the configuration and optimization of networks, including the installment of upgrades and patch updates. A software support technician must have excellent organizational and communication skills, especially in navigating computer tools and applications to create support tickets and fix the customers' issues efficiently.
Technical support advisors and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Advisor | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $107,198 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $81,000 And $141,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sacramento, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical support advisor and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Advisor | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support advisors' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Advisor | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.6% Female, 46.4% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.5% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |