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The differences between technical support technicians and desktop 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 desktop support technician. Additionally, a desktop support technician has an average salary of $41,792, 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 desktop support technician are customer service, desktop support, and troubleshoot.
| Technical Support Technician | Desktop Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $41,792 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $20.09 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 108,944 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 1 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| 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 troubleshooting defective computer systems, affecting its performance and efficiency. Desktop support technicians must be highly familiar with the technology systems and programming codes to navigate system applications and locate the discrepancy of the system. They keep documentation of the ticket issue and the resolution for reference and quality improvement. A desktop support technician also configures and updates computer systems and networks for better optimization, as well as conducting regular inspections and monitoring the efficiency of installed programs and patches.
Technical support technicians and desktop support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Desktop Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $41,792 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $32,000 And $54,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | Philadelphia, PA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | NTT Data International L.L.C. |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a desktop support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Desktop Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 46% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Information Systems |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and desktop support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Desktop Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2% |
| 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, 11.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.4% Asian, 11.7% White, 54.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |