How To Become A Bacteriologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a bacteriologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a bacteriologist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $37.19 an hour? That's $77,347 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 1,900 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreBacteriologistUS Average

Salary

6.0

Avg. Salary $77,347

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.6

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.74%

Asian 12.95%

Black or African American 3.17%

Hispanic or Latino 8.96%

Unknown 5.36%

White 68.82%

Gender

female 62.89%

male 37.11%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.6

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.6

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a bacteriologist

Explore bacteriologist education requirements

Most common bacteriologist degrees

Bachelor's

78.0 %

Master's

13.2 %

Associate

3.3 %

Start to develop specific bacteriologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Proficiency Testing	24.31%
Environmental Monitoring	23.38%
Molecular Biology Techniques	6.94%
Clinical Chemistry	5.71%
Lab Equipment	5.40%

Complete relevant bacteriologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New bacteriologists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a bacteriologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real bacteriologist resumes.

Research bacteriologist duties and responsibilities

Manage and implement microbiological efforts with the goal of FDA market approval of a low temperature vaporize hydrogen peroxide terminal sterilizer.
Extract DNA and process on PCR real time.
Prepare and process samples for PCR testing.
Review and QA analyst work and enter all information in LIMS.

Prepare your bacteriologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your bacteriologist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a bacteriologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable bacteriologist resume templates

Build a professional bacteriologist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your bacteriologist resume.