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Trainee vs information technology/support technician

The differences between trainees 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 trainee and an information technology/support technician. Additionally, an information technology/support technician has an average salary of $45,591, which is higher than the $39,185 average annual salary of a trainee.

The top three skills for a trainee include customer service, CDL and training programs. The most important skills for an information technology/support technician are customer service, troubleshoot, and computer system.

Trainee vs information technology/support technician overview

TraineeInformation Technology/Support Technician
Yearly salary$39,185$45,591
Hourly rate$18.84$21.92
Growth rate5%10%
Number of jobs51,490161,748
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 56%Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Average age4342
Years of experience22

What does a trainee do?

Trainees' general responsibility is to familiarize themselves with the best practices and processes of their chosen careers. Some of the trainee's duties include shadowing with a tenured employee to understand various tasks, taking practical examinations to test knowledge extent, maintaining the eagerness to learn and a positive working attitude, assisting with customer inquiries, escalating concerns, and maintaining record progress. A trainee should be a team player, a fast learner, and the ability to handle constructive criticisms for improvement.

What does an information technology/support technician do?

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.

Trainee vs information technology/support technician salary

Trainees and information technology/support technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

TraineeInformation Technology/Support Technician
Average salary$39,185$45,591
Salary rangeBetween $27,000 And $55,000Between $31,000 And $66,000
Highest paying CityRichmond, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateHawaiiPennsylvania
Best paying companyClifford ChanceMicrosoft
Best paying industryFinanceTechnology

Differences between trainee and information technology/support technician education

There are a few differences between a trainee and an information technology/support technician in terms of educational background:

TraineeInformation Technology/Support Technician
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 56%Bachelor's Degree, 51%
Most common majorBusinessComputer Science
Most common collegeStanford UniversityUniversity of Pennsylvania

Trainee vs information technology/support technician demographics

Here are the differences between trainees' and information technology/support technicians' demographics:

TraineeInformation Technology/Support Technician
Average age4342
Gender ratioMale, 56.4% Female, 43.6%Male, 85.4% Female, 14.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 13.8% White, 61.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%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 Percentage9%11%

Differences between trainee and information technology/support technician duties and responsibilities

Trainee example responsibilities.

  • Establish and manage Microsoft SharePoint services to servers to achieve higher productivity for each project.
  • Design scripts to automate the build of developer, QA, and production servers.
  • Accomplish the experiments on PCB layout, core circuit board of hardware via PCB manufacturing.
  • Maintain BOM (bill of materials) and manage the team in maintaining coordination between the customer requirements.
  • Involve using HTML, CSS, PHP, bootstrap, and Jquery throughout the work.
  • Assist in the creation of a python base ArcGIS profile elevation script tool.
  • Show more

Information technology/support technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage DHCP entries, assign and reserve IP addresses for different sites and locations.
  • Manage companies ShoreTel VoIP telephone system.
  • Manage and maintain network peripherals including printers, workstations and network connections.
  • Manage backups, replications and disaster recovery plans of company mission critical servers and database files to ensure redundancy.
  • Furnish technical assistance with VoIP system maintenance.
  • Use SCCM to remotely support and install software allowing for a reduction in troubleshooting times.
  • Show more

Trainee vs information technology/support technician skills

Common trainee skills
  • Customer Service, 22%
  • CDL, 9%
  • Training Programs, 9%
  • Work Ethic, 7%
  • Basic Math, 6%
  • Math, 5%
Common information technology/support technician skills
  • Customer Service, 12%
  • Troubleshoot, 9%
  • Computer System, 6%
  • Desk Support, 5%
  • Phone Calls, 4%
  • Remote Desktop, 3%

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