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The differences between technical support technicians and information technology/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 an information technology/support technician. Additionally, an information technology/support technician has an average salary of $45,591, 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 an information technology/support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and computer system.
| Technical Support Technician | Information Technology/Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $45,591 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $21.92 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 161,748 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| 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.
An information technology (IT) support technician is an individual who is responsible for providing support and troubleshoots software and hardware problems faced by customers. As for larger organizations that have their own IT department, technicians must work together internally with their IT staff members. IT support technicians are involved in inspecting and resolving minor local area network and wireless network issues, which include TCP/IP, DHCP, and VPN. They are also required to obtain an associate's degree in computer science or related field.
Technical support technicians and information technology/support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Information Technology/Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $45,591 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $31,000 And $66,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and an information technology/support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Information Technology/Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and information technology/support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Information Technology/Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 85.4% Female, 14.6% |
| 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, 10.7% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.7% Asian, 13.2% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |