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The differences between technical support representatives and technical 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 representative and a technical support technician. Additionally, a technical support technician has an average salary of $40,210, which is higher than the $34,758 average annual salary of a technical support representative.
The top three skills for a technical support representative include customer calls, smartphones and technical support calls. The most important skills for a technical support technician are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Technical Support Representative | Technical Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $34,758 | $40,210 |
| Hourly rate | $16.71 | $19.33 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 212,082 | 165,677 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
Technical support technicians are skilled professionals who resolve computer or information technology-related concerns. They may do installations, repairs, or maintenance activities of various applications or computer hardware. They are sometimes assigned specific issues or concerns to resolve so that they will not be bombarded with various issues. This means that they can now specialize in a specific family of concerns. Technical support technicians may provide on-site support, going directly to the person who needs help and doing what needs to be done or troubleshoot the problem in person. They may also be offsite and would usually be manning helpdesk hotlines. Offsite technical support technicians walk the caller through the steps they should do to fix the issues. As such, when a technical support technician is offsite, they are expected to be good communicators and will be able to provide clear instructions.
Technical support representatives and technical support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Representative | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $34,758 | $40,210 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $44,000 | Between $24,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Boston, MA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Maryland | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | HP | Ropes & Gray |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical support representative and a technical support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Representative | Technical Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 40% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support representatives' and technical support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Representative | Technical Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5% | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% |
| 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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.9% Asian, 10.6% White, 56.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |