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The differences between technical support technicians and technical specialists 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 technical specialist. Additionally, a technical specialist has an average salary of $88,773, 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 technical specialist are customer service, technical support, and patients.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $88,773 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $42.68 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 121,151 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| 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.
The role of technical specialists is to provide technical support for applications and programs to staff members and customers within an organization. They train staff and customers on products and apps and offer advice on the best practices for utilizing technical programs and applications. They also design training materials to teach other staff members the most effective methods of using its technology. It is also their job to reduce company costs by looking for ways to improve productivity and lessen expenses.
Technical support technicians and technical specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Specialist | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $88,773 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $62,000 And $126,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Delaware |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a technical specialist in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 57% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and technical specialists' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 71.2% Female, 28.8% |
| 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, 10.8% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 12.5% White, 54.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |