Nowadays, IT sector jobs are high in demand as they pay well. One such job is an application support specialist which is becoming quite popular. An application support specialist is a person who works in the information technology department of a company. These people help end users with the operation and functionality of software applications that are bought from their company. Today in this article we are going to talk more about the role of Application Support Specialists so if you have not heard about this job then you are going to explore some interesting things about the job here. So, continue reading the article to know who application support specialists are, how you can become one, and most importantly how much they earn.
Who is an Application Support Specialist?
Application support specialists are IT staff who are responsible for fixing application issues in business firms. They are professionals who understand the applications and systems used in the organization and provide technical support accordingly when required. Application support specialists can work in large or small private and government-owned organizations.
These professionals usually specialize in different applications and fields and thus an organization may hire more than one specialist to resolve multiple queries. If you also want to become an application support specialist, then you will need a degree in IT, computing studies, or a related field. Moreover, it also requires skills in critical thinking, communication, listening, and customer assistance.
What is the work of an Application Support Specialist?
The work of an Application Support Specialist may include helping teams with systems integration, managing the query system of an organization, answering back to assistance requests, troubleshooting systems, and fixing technical issues. They may also provide regular training to teams or people and generate reports as per the organization’s demand.
Therefore, application support specialists should have specific skills to fulfill their responsibilities. Some of the prominent skills include customer-service skills, listening skills, and problem-solving skills.
How can you become an Application Support Specialist?
If you want to become an application support specialist, then most importantly you will need a bachelor’s degree and 1-2 years of experience in the same field. The most common jobs that you can do before becoming an application support specialist include technical support specialist, customer service representative, and help desk analyst. In addition to this, getting a certification as a Certified Network Computer Technician (CNCT) will help you to earn more salary as an application support specialist.
Here are the steps that you can follow to become an application support specialist:
- Explore application support specialist education that what degrees will be required
- Develop application support specialist skills and work on them
- Complete relevant training/internship from recognized institutes
- Gain application support specialist certifications
- Research about application support specialist duties and responsibilities
- Prepare your resume mentioning your skills, degrees, and certification
- Then a last apply for an application support specialist job in different companies.
Salary of an Application Support Specialist
Application Support Specialists in America can earn an average salary of around $81,820 per year or $39 per hour. The top 10 percent with good certifications and extraordinary skills can make over $127,000 per year. While the least you can earn as an application support specialist is under $52,000 per year.
Application Support Specialist Salary in India can range from around 3 lakhs to 17 lakhs. You can earn up to an annual salary of 7 lacs.
Skills Required for an Application Support Specialist
The skills section on your resume while applying for an application support specialist job can be almost as important as the experience section as it shows an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Here are some of the most important skills we have mentioned that will be really helpful and even if you don’t possess these skills then you know what you need to work on. If you look at all the resumes on the internet, 11.3% of application support specialists listed customer service skills on their resume as soft skills like customer-service skills and listening skills are very important. Here are some of the skills that you should definitely include in your resume and if you do not have these skills, you need to work on them.
- Customer Service
- Application Support
- Procedures
- Technical Support
- Troubleshoot
- Other Skills relevant to the field
The bottom line
Application Support Specialist is quite an interesting job as it is all about resolving application issues of a company. They mainly install and maintain computer applications and often adjust or reconfigure the applications and change them to meet the certain needs of the organization or the individual user. It is one of the high paid jobs in the IT industry as we have discussed the salary of an application support specialist in the US and India both.