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The differences between technical support representatives and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become a technical support representative, becoming a customer service representative takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a technical support representative has an average salary of $34,758, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a technical support representative include customer calls, smartphones and technical support calls. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Technical Support Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $34,758 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $16.71 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | 10% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 212,082 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 42 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
Technical Support Representatives specialize in customer support through calls or correspondence. Among the primary responsibilities of a Technical Support Representative involves receiving and making calls, address and troubleshoot issues raised by the client, assist when navigating through complicated applications, provide suggestions or recommendations, or elevate the problem to personnel with higher expertise when necessary. Furthermore, a Technical Support Representative must coordinate with supervisors at all times, remain patient and proactive, and as well as maintain and organize records of each handled calls.
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
Technical support representatives and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $34,758 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $44,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | Maryland | Washington |
| Best paying company | HP | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a technical support representative and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | - |
Here are the differences between technical support representatives' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Technical Support Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 42 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.4% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.8% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 7% |