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The differences between technical support advisors and 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 support advisor and a support specialist. Additionally, a technical support advisor has an average salary of $107,198, which is higher than the $40,782 average annual salary of a support specialist.
The top three skills for a technical support advisor include customer service, technical support calls and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a support specialist are customer service, patients, and mental health.
| Technical Support Advisor | Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $107,198 | $40,782 |
| Hourly rate | $51.54 | $19.61 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 186,490 | 125,740 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| 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 support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
Technical support advisors and support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Advisor | Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $107,198 | $40,782 |
| Salary range | Between $81,000 And $141,000 | Between $25,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Sacramento, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | New York | New York |
| Best paying company | Apple | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support advisor and a support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Advisor | Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 43% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support advisors' and support specialists' demographics:
| Technical Support Advisor | Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 53.6% Female, 46.4% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| 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, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |