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The differences between technical support technicians and desk 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 technician and a desk support technician. Additionally, a desk support technician has an average salary of $40,715, which is higher than the $40,210 average annual salary of a technical support technician.
The top three skills for a technical support technician include customer service, technical support and patients. The most important skills for a desk support technician are customer service, technical support, and troubleshoot.
| Technical Support Technician | Desk Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $40,715 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $19.57 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 130,485 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 48% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
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.
A desktop support technician is responsible for assisting end-users with their network issues, grant authorization requests, and create user accounts. Desktop support technicians maintain the safety and security of networks, preventing unauthorized access and illegal dissemination of database information. They also handle the software configurations and upgrading the network infrastructure to avoid system downtimes and operational delays. A desktop support technician must have excellent communication and technical skills to monitor systems performance and enhance network navigation.
Technical support technicians and desk support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Desk Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $40,715 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $26,000 And $62,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | South San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | California |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | BNY Mellon |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a desk support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Desk Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 48% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and desk support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Desk Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 82.6% Female, 17.4% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 11.7% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |