Computer User Support Specialist
| Median wage (USD) | 61860 |
|---|---|
| Projected employment growth (%) | -3 |
| AI exposure (%) | 48 |
| Maximum exposure (%) | 85 |
| Source | eloundou |
| What AI changes in this occupation | Tier-1 triage, manual lookup and ticket logging are delegated to AI assistants Diagnostics and hardware evaluation write-ups become AI-assisted Physical setup, repair and relationships with users and management remain human |
| Key skills | Hardware and software troubleshooting · tier-1 and tier-2 support · ticket management · operating systems · networking and security basics |
| Courses to get ahead | Google IT Support Professional Certificate · Coursera · 6 mois · 90 · You learn the job hands-on: answering requests, diagnosing and logging incidents — the material AI prepares and you arbitrate. Technical Support Fundamentals (Google) · Coursera · 3 sem. · 86 · Hardware, operating systems, networking and customer service: the real troubleshooting moves, the ones that resist automation best. Google IT Automation with Python · Coursera · 6 mois · 84 · You learn to script what AI proposes: that is what moves you from ticket triage to systems administration. Operating Systems and You: Becoming a Power User (Google) · Coursera · 4 sem. · 83 System Administration and IT Infrastructure Services (Google) · Coursera · 4 sem. · 81 Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT (Vanderbilt University) · Coursera · 2 sem. · 78 |
| Occupations to pivot toward | Computer Network Support Specialist · 76220 · 1 · 54 Network and Computer Systems Administrator · 99130 · -4 · 51 Computer Systems Analyst · 105850 · 8 · 47 |
| Skills to acquire for the pivot | Eloundou's measured exposure is 48% (human β) and rises to 85% (human ζ): tier-1 triage, technical manual lookup, ticket logging and hardware evaluation write-ups are largely delegable to AI, but physical setup, repair and arbitrating requirements with management remain human. BLS growth is -3% from 2025 to 2035 for computer user support specialists (SOC 15-1232.00), or 26,200 fewer jobs (750,600 in 2025, 724,400 in 2035), while BLS projects about 48,700 openings a year for the group as a whole — all from replacement. The job is not disappearing: it is shrinking through automation of tier-1 troubleshooting, notably chatbots, and shifting toward complex cases. The median salary ($61,860, May 2025) is that of the 'Computer User Support Specialists' profile (SOC 15-1232.00); the lowest 10% earn less than $40,980 and the highest 10% more than $100,540. It is above all occupations ($50,980) but below network support specialists ($76,220) and network and computer systems administrators ($99,130): this is the first rung of the technical ladder, where automation replaces the most work. |
| GPT-4 exposure — beta / zeta (%) | 61 · 78 |