{"id":22831,"date":"2026-09-05T07:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T07:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/?page_id=22831---1295b62d-4ba5-486e-9afb-651765fe2ab8"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:15:58","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:15:58","slug":"will-having-a-sales-background-help-me-find-a-job-if-i-have-the-technical-knowledge-in-tech-support","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.degreequery.com\/computer-science-degrees\/will-having-a-sales-background-help-me-find-a-job-if-i-have-the-technical-knowledge-in-tech-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Having a Sales Background Help Me Find a Job if I Have the Technical Knowledge in Tech Support?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

One vital component of tech support is people skills that can be learned through a variety of sources including sales experience. Of course, it is important to understand what tech support is and isn\u2019t. Additionally, the question arises of how important tech support has become to the consumer. How much does the average person use technology and need the service?<\/p>\n

Increased Technology Use<\/h2>\n

The average American home uses complex technology. At the basic level, consider cell phones and computers. Beyond that, however, sources such as Emerj.com<\/a> note that homes are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of virtual assistants such as Amazon\u2019s Alexa, cleaning and entertainment robots and more<\/strong>. Smart technology enables users to control the lighting, heating and cooling and security of their homes remotely. All this technology comes with a caveat: it can fail. When it does, users may be faced with the task of troubleshooting in an area where they have no expertise.<\/p>\n

Customer Support, Not Tech Support<\/h2>\n

Americans look for help online. Once, most products came with a print user\u2019s manual. Today, most products and services only have directions for quick set-up and their manuals are available at the company website. The Internet is full of self-help articles and videos. These can be frustrating because their creators often assume viewers will have a rudimentary level of tech knowledge and few do. In the face of problematic tech issues, customers will first search the internet for simple fixes. When that fails, they will call a tech support number.<\/strong> Customers expect the person who takes their call to have hard tech skills learned through their degree programs and other educational resources, but they will also expect the responder to have people skills and customer service-type attitudes. These attributes could certainly be acquired through experience in retail sales.<\/p>\n

What differentiates tech support from customer support? Customer support deals with issues such as billing, product availability and general questions about the service or product. Tech support deals with issues such as errors in installation, connectivity problems, breakage and other things that keep consumers from using the product or service.<\/p>\n

\u201cHard\u201d Tech Skills<\/h2>\n

Support tech people must know the product<\/strong>. That, increasingly, requires more IT skills and knowledge. An article in Forbes<\/a> says that tech jobs are expected to increase by 12 percent through 2024. Those jobs are assuredly in creation, programming and design, but also in maintenance and repair. Additionally, those skills must be continually upgraded as technology increases. All that means the \u201caverage Joe\u201d user will be ever more reliant upon tech support.<\/p>\n

People interested in careers in tech support need a foundational degree in internet technology.<\/strong> They also might anticipate the field in which they would work by taking electives in programming, coding, computer architecture and other general technical information. Once they get positions in support for a particular product or service, they also need to know that product \u201cinside-out.\u201d The SuperOffice.com<\/a> blog says that every time a business cannot solve a problem through tech support, they are potentially losing a customer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSoft\u201d Tech Skills<\/h2>\n

Support tech personnel must know people<\/strong>. While tech support employers look for the degree on a resume, they also look for \u201csoft\u201d skills. These are the skills that people with experience in retail would probably have honed. A few components of this kind of skill are listed here:<\/p>\n