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The differences between technical support technicians and technical support engineers 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 engineer. Additionally, a technical support engineer has an average salary of $85,716, 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 engineer are technical support, customer service, and troubleshoot.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $40,210 | $85,716 |
| Hourly rate | $19.33 | $41.21 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 165,677 | 184,542 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| 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 engineer is responsible for responding to customer issues, providing immediate resolutions to their system issues through remote assistance. Technical support engineers must have strong knowledge of software and hardware applications to diagnose system defects and process troubleshooting. They also assist customers with the installation of programs and updates to improve system performance, escalating high-level concerns to appropriate internal technology teams. A technical support engineer must have strong command with technical systems, as well as excellent communication and time-management skills to understand clients' issues while documenting procedures.
Technical support technicians and technical support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $40,210 | $85,716 |
| Salary range | Between $24,000 And $64,000 | Between $61,000 And $119,000 |
| Highest paying City | Philadelphia, PA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Pennsylvania | Washington |
| Best paying company | Ropes & Gray | Meta |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a technical support technician and a technical support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between technical support technicians' and technical support engineers' demographics:
| Technical Support Technician | Technical Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.7% Female, 33.3% | Male, 83.3% Female, 16.7% |
| 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, 9.8% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 15.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |