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The differences between technical support technicians 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 technician and a software support technician. Additionally, a software support technician has an average salary of $79,670, 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 software support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and java.
| Technical Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $79,670 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $38.30 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 117,059 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| 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 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 technicians and software support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $79,670 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $55,000 And $113,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | California |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | RSM US |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a software support technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 59% |
| Most common major | Business | Computer Science |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and software support technicians' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Software Support Technician | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 73.8% Female, 26.2% |
| 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, 10.6% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 12.4% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |