What is a Technical Support Agent?

A technical support agent provides computer and system support through calls and correspondence to ensure customers are well satisfied. He/She assists customers in troubleshooting and examining systems to identify technical issues and guide them on resolving them. Apart from this, he/she executes a follow-up to ensure that the problem is eliminated. Technical support agents ensure the security and integrity of the company's databases and help in developing IT and infrastructure projects.

As a technical support agent, you need to have at least a high school diploma and some vocational training program as a computer/network administrator. However, some employers prefer candidates with an associate's degree in networking, telecommunications, or a related discipline. A previous work experience in technical support is beneficial. Candidates must also possess communication, customer service, and problem-solving skills. A technical support agent earns about $32,077 in a year. This varies from $32,000 to $48,000.

What Does a Technical Support Agent Do

There are certain skills that many technical support agents have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed speaking skills, writing skills and customer-service skills.

Learn more about what a Technical Support Agent does

How To Become a Technical Support Agent

If you're interested in becoming a technical support agent, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 33.4% of technical support agents have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 2.4% of technical support agents have master's degrees. Even though some technical support agents have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Technical Support Agent
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Technical Support Agent Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a technical support agent can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as technical support specialist, progress to a title such as systems administrator and then eventually end up with the title information technology manager.

Technical Support Agent

Average Salary for a Technical Support Agent

Technical Support Agents in America make an average salary of $30,389 per year or $15 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $40,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $23,000 per year.
Average Technical Support Agent Salary
$30,389 Yearly
$14.61 hourly
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Roles and Types of Technical Support Agent

The role of a technical support agent includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general technical support agent responsibilities:

  • Interact daily with customers in order to identify, document,
  • Essential duties/responsibilities providelive and non-livesupport tocengage learning for digital solutions. Utilizeadministrative tools to assistin the analysis of technical issues reported by customers troubleshoot
  • Assist consumers, partners, and professionals with pre-sales, order management,

There are several types of technical support agent, including:

Technical Support Technician

Role:

A Technical Support Technician is the heart and soul of an IT system. They are tech-savvy geniuses who set up, maintain, and repair computer systems for businesses and organizations.

They install and configure hardware and software, maintain the efficiency of the network, run diagnostic tests and electrical checks to identify any technical issue or fault in the system, and nip it in the bud. They test and review new technologies as well and suggest improvements if they see fit.

They are not just excellent technicians, however, but charming people's persons as well, who are able to effortlessly elicit crucial information from customers about their IT issues. They bear with them until they solve the problem with patience and tenacity, give timely feedback to customers following up on matters if necessary, and create documentation of their cases along with reports on the efficiency of the service they provide.

  • Average Salary: $40,210
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Technical Support Representative

Role:

As a technical support representative, you're going to talk to a lot of people throughout each day. You're also going to put out a lot of fires. Not literally, of course, but people will come to you when all else fails.

Technical terms are hard to understand when a product or service isn't working as it's supposed to. And that's where you come into play. Not only do you understand those technical terms, but you also can explain them in a way that customers can easily understand.

Technical support representatives are a godsend for many people. Without them, many customers would be lost and probably wouldn't be able to use their product or service. So you're the reason many don't waste their money.

  • Average Salary: $34,758
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Desktop Support Technician

Role:

There are people with a natural gift for anything related to technology. These are the people who can easily understand tech-related stuff. Their learning agility when it comes to programs, systems, and networks is high. It's a bonus if you have a gift for technology and you can provide excellent customer service. If you fit this category, companies would surely want to hire you. One of the on-demand jobs for this type of person is the desktop support specialist. In this role, you will be on standby to help with ticket requests related to the users' computers. This may involve program, application, or network support needs. As such, if you wish to make a career in this role, you need to have patience. You should also know how to walk clients through solutions in case you won't be able to attend to their concerns physically.

Typically, information technology professionals are paid better than their peers in other fields. This role is no exception. So if you want a fulfilling role with lucrative pay, this would be the best for you!

  • Average Salary: $41,792
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Technical Support Agent Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active technical support agent jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where technical support agents earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Technical Support Agent Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California7,597$36,699
2Texas5,096$29,996
3Florida4,270$29,545
4New York3,753$36,872
5Pennsylvania3,496$30,717
6Illinois3,265$30,668
7Ohio2,893$31,772
8Michigan2,803$30,330
9Georgia2,582$28,908
10Missouri2,170$29,752
11Massachusetts2,016$35,018
12Virginia1,909$34,496
13Colorado1,824$31,671
14Minnesota1,768$36,152
15Washington1,743$31,489
16Arizona1,646$30,937
17Indiana1,563$30,389
18North Carolina1,497$31,674
19Wisconsin1,410$36,512
20Tennessee1,405$31,968
21Maryland1,369$35,083
22New Jersey1,352$33,334
23South Carolina1,318$30,951
24Alabama1,229$35,160
25Oregon1,033$33,046
26Louisiana1,011$30,325
27Oklahoma913$29,840
28Utah885$31,048
29Arkansas885$26,815
30Connecticut829$35,573
31Nevada823$29,027
32Kansas769$30,541
33Nebraska732$26,780
34New Mexico657$30,385
35Iowa605$30,548
36Mississippi569$28,010
37Kentucky562$30,789
38New Hampshire413$30,847
39Idaho395$26,535
40Delaware379$35,390
41Maine377$27,166
42South Dakota355$27,977
43Montana324$27,646
44West Virginia312$32,751
45North Dakota303$29,557
46Rhode Island274$33,516
47Alaska215$24,778
48Vermont213$31,089
49Hawaii198$32,252
50Wyoming159$27,439

Technical Support Agent Education

Technical Support Agent Majors

Business
19.0 %
Computer Science
10.4 %
Computer Information Systems
7.7 %

Technical Support Agent Degrees

Bachelors

33.4 %

Associate

27.0 %

High School Diploma

26.5 %

Top Colleges for Technical Support Agents

1. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

4. Maine Maritime Academy

Castine, ME • Private

In-State Tuition

$13,478

Enrollment

979

5. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

6. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,309

Enrollment

9,142

7. SUNY at Binghamton

Vestal, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,808

Enrollment

13,990

8. Villanova University

Villanova, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$53,308

Enrollment

6,819

9. San Diego State University

San Diego, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,488

Enrollment

30,018

10. Bentley University

Waltham, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$49,880

Enrollment

4,177

Top Skills For a Technical Support Agent

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 14.1% of technical support agents listed customer service on their resume, but soft skills such as speaking skills and writing skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Technical Support Agent Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Technical Support Agent templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Technical Support Agent resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Technical Support Agent Resume

Technical Support Agent diversity

Technical Support Agent Gender Distribution

Male
Male
58%
Female
Female
42%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among technical support agents, 42.3% of them are women, while 57.7% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among technical support agents is White, which makes up 56.1% of all technical support agents.

  • The most common foreign language among technical support agents is Spanish at 60.4%.

Online Courses For Technical Support Agent That You May Like

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1. Introduction to Technical Support

coursera

Gain the daily work skills and knowledge you’ll need for IT Technical Support career success. This course, part of the IBM Technical Support Professional Certificate, is designed for beginners with no prior IT experience or formal degree. Get an insider’s view into IT Support work. Learn about IT Support roles and levels, the support escalation matrix, ticketing systems, common support tools, and remote support software. Then, hear about career opportunities and career pathways from...

2. Technical Support Case Studies and Capstone

coursera

This course allows you to show what you’ve learned in the previous IT Technical Support professional certification courses and apply that knowledge to realistic situations. The IT Technical Support Capstone leads you through a series of technical support case studies that require hands-on work to resolve. You will practice analyzing user help requests and troubleshooting various issues. You’ll demonstrate your knowledge of hardware, software, networking, security, and cloud computing. You’ll...

3. IT Support Technical Skills Bootcamp

udemy
4.5
(459)

Hands-on Technical skills for IT Support Professionals...

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Best States For a Technical Support Agent

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a technical support agent. The best states for people in this position are New York, California, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Technical support agents make the most in New York with an average salary of $36,872. Whereas in California and Wisconsin, they would average $36,699 and $36,512, respectively. While technical support agents would only make an average of $36,152 in Minnesota, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Delaware

Total Technical Support Agent Jobs: 379
Highest 10% Earn:
$51,000
Location Quotient:
1.16

$35,390

Avg. Salary

View 379 Technical Support Agent Jobs In DE

2. New York

Total Technical Support Agent Jobs: 3,753
Highest 10% Earn:
$52,000
Location Quotient:
1.12

$36,872

Avg. Salary

View 3,753 Technical Support Agent Jobs In NY

3. Alabama

Total Technical Support Agent Jobs: 1,229
Highest 10% Earn:
$49,000
Location Quotient:
1.07

$35,160

Avg. Salary

View 1,229 Technical Support Agent Jobs In AL
Full List Of Best States For Technical Support Agents

How Do Technical Support Agents Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Technical Support Agent Employers

Most Common Employers For Technical Support Agent

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Dell$63,563$30.5668
2Intuit$40,537$19.4963
3Unisys$34,837$16.7574
4Xerox$33,731$16.22183
5T-Mobile$33,598$16.15137
6DISH Network$33,030$15.8873
7Apple$32,787$15.76116
8Harte Hanks$32,668$15.7177
9Stream Companies$31,993$15.38139
10Comcast$31,878$15.33117
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Updated April 6, 2023