An application support technician is an IT professional who supports customers and resolves software issues. This is a popular beginner job for recent graduates because application support technicians start out making approximately $60,000 per year, according to Glassdoor.
Basic Responsibilities
Application support technicians are members of customer support teams that troubleshoot applications, document issues and resolve conflicts. Most of their work is performed through answering phone calls and using service desk applications. They assist users in troubleshooting issues to identify potential resolutions and advise end users on the necessary steps to achieve solutions. Application support technicians log calls and document customer complaints in service desk applications. They work with technician teams to complete ongoing tasks and projects. Experienced application support technicians assist in the planning and execution of improvement or maintenance projects set by IT management. They patiently and professionally support end users who must adjust to operational and procedural changes.
Data Responsibilities
Some application support technicians primarily work with databases and massive data warehouses. They are responsible for completing data operations and maintenance related assignments. They coordinate technical efforts with other IT professionals, such as database administrators, and work closely with information technology departments to continually improve data quality, functionality and accessibility. Some answer questions, provide solutions and prioritize incoming voice and email requests. They routinely check monitoring and measurement tools to ensure that data driven applications are efficiently running. These application support technicians provide regular training on applications to employees and deliver project update presentations to staff.
User Support Responsibilities
Certain application support technicians specialize in a few types of applications, platforms or operating systems. For example, an application support technician may only answer questions and provide solutions related to Microsoft operating systems and Office applications, such as Excel, Access and Visio. They may re-install applications as requested or troubleshoot software conflicts, such as Java failing to work with Internet Explorer. For user end issues that cannot be resolved, they re-assign tickets to IT specialists or senior staff. These application support technicians also manage user network and application accounts, which requires them to help end users re-set passwords and resolve log-in difficulties. They also manage access rights, network group membership statuses and user requests to filter or unblock Internet sites.
Job Qualifications
Application support technicians must have a working knowledge of standard software and web-based applications. They must have the ability to effectively communicate, work with minimal supervision and understand and execute instructions. Being able to continually re-prioritize and re-organize workloads within set deadlines in high performance environments is very important. Application support technicians should be customer focused and surpass the expectations and requirements of end-users. They need strong reasoning skills, which means they must be able to apply common sense to solve problems that involve many variables and vague information. While performing their duties, some application support technicians may be required to kneel or crawl while handling heavy equipment.
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Almost all application support technician have a bachelor’s degree related to computer or information science with the industry standard CompTIA A+ certification.
