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The differences between technical support engineers and customer 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 engineer and a customer support technician. Additionally, a technical support engineer has an average salary of $85,716, which is higher than the $36,361 average annual salary of a customer support technician.
The top three skills for a technical support engineer include technical support, customer service and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a customer support technician are customer service, customer support, and SQL.
| Technical Support Engineer | Customer Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $85,716 | $36,361 |
| Hourly rate | $41.21 | $17.48 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 184,542 | 117,102 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A technical support engineer is responsible for responding to customer issues, providing immediate resolutions to their system issues through remote assistance. Technical support engineers must have strong knowledge of software and hardware applications to diagnose system defects and process troubleshooting. They also assist customers with the installation of programs and updates to improve system performance, escalating high-level concerns to appropriate internal technology teams. A technical support engineer must have strong command with technical systems, as well as excellent communication and time-management skills to understand clients' issues while documenting procedures.
A customer support technician is responsible for resolving customer complaints with their network issues through remote communication, providing the customers with a step-by-step procedure to fix their systems. Customer support technicians assist the customers in setting up their programs and applications, guiding them with the instructional manuals, and responding to the inquiries and concerns they have. They also escalate high-level complaints to the immediate supervisor as needed while monitoring system solutions and creating technical tickets.
Technical support engineers and customer support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Engineer | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $85,716 | $36,361 |
| Salary range | Between $61,000 And $119,000 | Between $23,000 And $56,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Washington | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Meta | Adobe |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support engineer and a customer support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Engineer | Customer Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support engineers' and customer support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Engineer | Customer Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 83.3% Female, 16.7% | Male, 66.1% Female, 33.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 10.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |