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Technical Support Specialist Vs Software Support Technician

The differences between technical support specialists 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 specialist and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, which is higher than the $48,667 average annual salary of a technical support specialist.

The top three skills for a technical support specialist include customer service, technical support and troubleshoot. The most important skills for a software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.

Technical support specialist vs software support technician overview

Technical Support SpecialistSoftware Support Technician
Yearly Salary$48,667$79,670
Hourly rate$23.40$38.30
Growth Rate10%10%
Number Of Jobs157,425117,059
Job Satisfaction4.6-
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Average Age4242
Years Of Experience22

What does a Technical Support Specialist do?

A technical support specialist is responsible for assisting customer's and businesses' concerns and system issues by performing troubleshooting and remote solutions. These specialists must have extensive knowledge of system applications, including software and hardware database to handle complex processes that might affect the end user's experience or the business' daily operations. Technical support specialists should maintain excellent communication skills to guide the client and business on solving network problems. They must also document concerns and progress promptly for reference and quality checks.

What does a software support technician do?

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 specialist vs software support technician salary

Technical support specialists and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

Technical Support SpecialistSoftware Support Technician
Average Salary$48,667$79,670
Salary RangeBetween $30,000 And $76,000Between $55,000 And $113,000
Highest Paying CitySan Francisco, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest Paying StateNew JerseyCalifornia
Best Paying CompanyMetaRSM US
Best Paying IndustryFinanceFinance

Differences between technical support specialist and software support technician education

There are a few differences between a technical support specialist and a software support technician in terms of educational background:

Technical Support SpecialistSoftware Support Technician
Most Common DegreeBachelor's Degree, 50%Bachelor's Degree, 59%
Most Common MajorComputer ScienceComputer Science
Most Common CollegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Technical support specialist vs software support technician demographics

Here are the differences between technical support specialists' and software support technicians' demographics:

Technical Support SpecialistSoftware Support Technician
Average Age4242
Gender RatioMale, 75.4% Female, 24.6%Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2%
Race RatioBlack or African American, 11.7% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 11.3% White, 55.0% 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 Percentage11%11%

Differences between technical support specialist and software support technician duties and responsibilities

Technical Support Specialist Example Responsibilities.

  • Implement hardware and software upgrades and maintain stability, usability, and security for desktop/laptop/mobile systems; achieve SLA's.
  • Manage all operating end-user software including JavaScript - updating/installing Java.
  • Install, configure and manage proprietary applications on Unix servers.
  • Manage large-scale PC deployments including site surveys involving verification of network activity and appropriate power availability.
  • Manage backups, replications and disaster recovery plans of company mission critical servers and database files to ensure redundancy.
  • Deploy and troubleshoot complex software installations in Microsoft and Linux environments.
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Software Support Technician Example Responsibilities.

  • Manage desktop services team members to provide SLA agreements within network support services department.
  • Manage trouble ticket queues in order to keep tickets within SLA's and to expedite high level issues.
  • Install and configure multiple UNIX servers and databases using native utilities; configure internal network, configure and manage SSL certificates.
  • Develop web base MySQL database using HTML, PHP and Java for affiliate program.
  • Implement event handling using Java, Ajax and ExtJS.
  • Support medium networks of multiple OS computers with design, configuration and maintenance services.
  • Show More

Technical support specialist vs software support technician skills

Common Technical Support Specialist Skills
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Technical Support, 10%
  • Troubleshoot, 8%
  • Math, 4%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 3%
  • Phone Calls, 3%
Common Software Support Technician Skills
  • Customer Service, 14%
  • Troubleshoot, 10%
  • Java, 7%
  • Database, 6%
  • Phone Calls, 5%
  • Software Support, 3%

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