Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical support agents 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 agent and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, which is higher than the $30,389 average annual salary of a technical support agent.
The top three skills for a technical support agent include customer service, email clients and technical support issues. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Technical Support Agent | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $30,389 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $14.61 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 177,918 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A technical support agent specializes in providing computer and system support through calls and correspondence, ensuring optimal customer satisfaction. They are primarily responsible for assisting customers in troubleshooting and evaluating systems to figure out the cause of technical issues and talk them through its corresponding solution. Moreover, an agent must make follow-up calls to ensure that the problem no longer persists or forward them to higher authority personnel when necessary.
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 agents and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Agent | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $30,389 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $23,000 And $40,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | El Cajon, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New York | California |
| Best paying company | HP | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical support agent and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Agent | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 33% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support agents' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Agent | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.7% Female, 42.3% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% 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% |