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The differences between technical support technicians and technical support assistants 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 support assistant. Additionally, a technical support assistant has an average salary of $44,005, 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 support assistant are troubleshoot, phone calls, and data entry.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $44,005 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $21.16 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 153,404 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| 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 technical support assistant assists and supports technical staff members in their daily activities. These professionals execute technical support tasks for the client-server. Besides providing technical support for desktop applications, technical support assistants also help technicians resolve and troubleshoot technical issues. Moreover, technical support assistants answer and reply to emails and customer calls concerning their technical problems. They ensure the technical staff follows the required guidelines and procedures and update themselves on the technical aspects' solutions and latest trends.
Technical support technicians and technical support assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Assistant | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $44,005 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $30,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | New York |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | Autodesk |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a technical support assistant in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 54% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and technical support assistants' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Assistant | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 61.8% Female, 38.2% |
| 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, 11.3% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 14.4% White, 54.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |