Skills sets requirement for a technical support

• A Technical Support professional is expected to have excellent skills sets than his/her educational qualifications.
• Excellent communication skills are necessary to handle this designation.
• Customer service skills are required to interact with the customer effectively and efficiently.
• Excellent troubleshooting skills are required.
• Through knowledge on the product which are supported.
• Must be computer literate and good typing skills are especially required for non voice process Technical Support executives.
• Ability to handle pressure when the customer is angry about the issue.
• One of the primary skills sets are high levels of patience are compulsory.
• Ability to handle more calls and trouble shoot the issues quickly in the first instance.
• Problem solving skills are required.
• To be a team player and also leadership qualities are required for a Technical Support manager.
• Must be willing to work in rotational shifts mostly night shifts.
• Work in the weekends and festival occasions to support the customers of the products.
• To be updated about the new features of the product.
• Excellent time management skills are necessary.
• Excellent listening skills are necessary to understand the issue of the customer in the phone.
• Employers recruit only candidates with excellent skills sets.
• Skills sets are compulsory to work in the field of Technical Support.
• Sound knowledge on the operating systems and networks.
• Proficient in internet related applications which include ftp clients and web browsers.

Certification and Licensure requirements for becoming a technical support professional

• There is no requirement for any licensure for Technical Support professionals.
• Certification is required for these professionals.
• Employment opportunities are good for certified candidates in this field.
• Plenty of certification programs are there for these executives.
• Certification in networking and computers are available.
• Certification programs are offered by Microsoft Corporation.
• Some of them include Microsoft Certified IT Professional (MCITP).
• Certifications are also offered from Cisco Corporation.
• Cisco certified network professional shortly called CCNA.
• Cisco certified network professional also called CCNP.
• High level Technical Support professionals must complete any of the certifications to grow in their career to reach high levels.
• Certified candidate are given the first preference by the employers.
• Most of the candidates join as customer support level executive and then complete certification programs to improve their designations levels in the company.
• Candidates take prior training in computers to get opportunities in the companies.

Educational Requirements to become a technical support professional

• High educational requirements are not needed for these professionals.
• Candidate must have passed high school or bachelor’s degree in any field.
• At least a one year certificate in computers and related subjects.
• Experience is very crucial for a tech support professionals than educational qualifications.
• A bachelor’s degree in computers with specialization in networking would be great fetch for the candidate in his/her career.
• Mostly tech support aspirants have their bachelor’s degree or high school diploma and complete a certificate course in networking.
• Experience is very important for these professionals and through knowledge on the product is compulsory to reach higher levels in the field of Technical Support.
• The employment opportunities are more for the candidates with certifications.

Salary and Remuneration for a tech support professional

• Salaries of Technical Support are very much based on the candidate previous experience levels, work location, product supported by the candidate, size of the company, certification and level in the Technical Support field.
• Salaries vary mainly based on the designation of the candidate.
• Bonus, profit share and commission are earned by these professionals in addition to the basic salaries availed by them from the employers.
• Bonus as salary is also based on several factors primarily on the candidate experience as Technical Support agent, certification, employer size and also type of the product supported by him/her.
• Very good incentives based on the performance are offered by the employers.
• The scope of growth for these professionals is very high once they are expertise in the field.
• As per the data from United States Bureau of Labor Statistics a Technical Support average median salary in the year 2009 is $47,360 per annum.
• Total pay salary earnings for Technical Support specialist is $27,604- $65,025 per annum in United States.
• The total pay earnings for a Technical Support engineer are more than compared with Technical Support specialist of a range $36,285- $89,413 per annum.
• Compared with all the industries software applications pays the best salary range package for tech support executives of range $30,853- $73,415 per annum.
• Least salary range package is given by educational institutions and universities for these professionals of range $29,040- $66,105 per annum in United States.
• The pay scale range also vary for Technical Support professionals for males it is $36,355- $55,475 and for females it is $35,755- $51,100 per annum in United States.
• For Technical Support engineers salary vary as per their experience years.
• With less than one year work experience the candidate earns a salary range of $29,233- $60,080 per annum.
• One to four years of experience a salary range of $34,198- $69,937 per annum for tech support engineers in United States.
• A candidate with five to nine years earns a salary range of $41,563- $83,777 per annum.
• Ten to nineteen years of experience the candidate earns a package of $48,157- $97,316 per annum.
• A candidate with twenty years experience and more than it gets a salary range of $55,123- $107,898 per annum.
• Salaries also huge vary based on the work location of the candidate in United States.
• Compared with all the cities in United States Seattle, Washington offers the highest salary range package of $47,231- $93,408 per annum for Technical Support engineers.
• Out of all the states or provinces Massachusetts state salary range is the highest of range $44,044- $87,435 per annum.
• For Technical Support engineers with a certificate of Cisco Certified Network Professional earns the best salary range of $54,362- $99,329 per annum.
• The demand for these Technical Support professionals is very high these days.

Duties and Responsibilities of an  technical support professional

Duties and responsibilities of Technical Support professionals vary as per designation and industry type they are working for. The responsibilities are more Technical Support managers and team leaders.

Duties of a Technical Support agent

• Understand the issue with the customer product.
• Resolve the issue very clearly and as many times still the customer understands it.
• Make sure that the issue is resolved in the first instance.
• If the issue involves more technicalities then the call can be transferred to next levels of Technical Support.
• The Technical Support agent must also help and guide the customers on how to use the products.
• Analyze the problem in the first instance and resolve it.
• Duties for a Technical Support manager are quite more he/she must analyze the performance of all the Technical Support staff members.
• High levels Technical Support professionals must explain complex and technical details to the customer in a simplified manner.
• A Technical Support team leader must conduct regular meetings with his/her team mates about the updates and common customer issues of the product supported by them.

Responsibilities of a Technical Support agent

• A Technical Support must be very responsible to the customer.
• Ensure that the issue is resolved in the first instance.
• Don’t hurry and confuse the customer while resolving the issue.
• Allow the customer to take his/her own time until issue is resolved.
• Handle the customer with great care who is very angry on the issue of his/her product.
• Resolve the issue at the first instance.
• Alert the team leader or subject matter expert in case the call is prolonged for long period.
• Average handling time of the call must be less.
• Don’t end the call or chat abruptly which angers the customer very much.
• Guide the customer with all the basic troubleshooting steps and if still the issue persists transfer the call to the higher levels of Technical Support staff.
• Participate in all the meetings conducted by the team leader.
• Ensure that the troubleshooting steps provided are right.
• Don’t give wrong troubleshooting steps which may damage the product.

What does a Technical support professional do?

Technical Support professionals is a person who supports and assists users of technology products which includes mobile phones, televisions, laptops (notebook and netbook), software products and other electronics devices. The main aim of this professional is to resolve issues of these products by phone, email and by online chat. Most of the organizations provide this tech support service to its customers free of cost. The job profile of a Technical Support agent is not an easy task since he/she needs to resolve the issue of the customer by explaining him/her very clearly and slowly.  To handle this designation a candidate requires through knowledge of the product that he/she is supporting.

Mostly customers prefer to call the Technical Support team to resolve their issues. All the software and electronics products manufacturing companies train the desired candidates technically and support their customers to enjoy their products. A Technical Support agent must be very alert and resolve the issue of the customer very patiently. There are many designations in the field of Technical Support which include Technical Support specialist, Technical Support engineer, Technical Support analyst, Technical Support manager and computer Technical Support specialist.

There are different levels or tiers in a Technical Support field starting from level 1 to level 4 or also called as tier 1 to tier 4. The other name for this multiple levels in Technical Support is called as multi- tiered Technical Support. More often issues arise network problems and also on software installations in mobile phones and laptops.

The career growth of these professionals is very good. Based on the candidate’s experience in this field he/she would be promoted to higher levels in multi- tiered Technical Support. The employment overview is excellent and opportunities are plenty. Almost both the number of males and females ration in this profession are same.