Post job

Bioinformatics research technician education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a bioinformatics research technician. Bioinformatics research technicians usually study biology, biostatistics, or computer science. 71% of bioinformatics research technicians hold a bachelor's degree, and 19% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 94 real bioinformatics research technician resumes to see exactly what bioinformatics research technician education sections show.

The most common colleges for bioinformatics research technicians are the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of California, Santa Barbara.

There are also many online bioinformatics research technician courses to help get the education required to be a bioinformatics research technician.

What education do you need to become a bioinformatics research technician?

What degree do you need to be a bioinformatics research technician?

The most common degree for bioinformatics research technicians is bachelor's degree, with 71% of bioinformatics research technicians earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are master's degree degree at 19% and master's degree degree at 3%.
  • Bachelor's, 71%
  • Master's, 19%
  • Associate, 3%
  • Doctorate, 3%
  • Other Degrees, 4%

What should I major in to become a bioinformatics research technician?

You should major in biology to become a bioinformatics research technician. 14% of bioinformatics research technicians major in biology. Other common majors for a bioinformatics research technician include biostatistics and computer science.

Most common colleges for bioinformatics research technicians

Bioinformatics research technicians often get their degrees at University of California, Santa Barbara, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Oregon State University. Here are the most common colleges for bioinformatics research technicians in the US based on their resumes.
Bioinformatics research technician common collegePercentages
University of California, Santa Barbara10.34%
Georgia Institute of Technology10.34%
Oregon State University10.34%
University of California - Davis6.90%
Virginia Commonwealth University6.90%

Best majors for bioinformatics research technicians

Best colleges for bioinformatics research technicians

The best colleges for bioinformatics research technicians are Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A bioinformatics research technician with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for bioinformatics research technicians. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become bioinformatics research technicians.

1. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-state tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

2. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

3. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

4. University of California, Berkeley

Berkeley, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$14,184

Enrollment

30,845

5. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-state tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

6. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

7. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

8. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

In-state tuition

$49,816

Enrollment

6,840

9. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

10. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

20 best online courses for bioinformatics research technicians

Advertising disclosure

1. Plant Bioinformatic Methods

coursera

The past 15 years have been exciting ones in plant biology. Hundreds of plant genomes have been sequenced, RNA-seq has enabled transcriptome-wide expression profiling, and a proliferation of "-seq"-based methods has permitted protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions to be determined cheaply and in a high-throughput manner. These data sets in turn allow us to generate hypotheses at the click of a mouse or tap of a finger.The Plant Bioinformatics Specialization on Coursera introduces core...

2. Plant Bioinformatics Capstone

coursera

The past 15 years have been exciting ones in plant biology. Hundreds of plant genomes have been sequenced, RNA-seq has enabled transcriptome-wide expression profiling, and a proliferation of "-seq"-based methods has permitted protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions to be determined cheaply and in a high-throughput manner. These data sets in turn allow us to generate hypotheses at the click of a mouse or tap of a finger. In Plant Bioinformatics on Coursera.org, we covered 33 plant-specific...

3. Genetics and Next Generation Sequencing for Bioinformatics

udemy
4.4
(1,551)

For software professionals entering Bioinformatics: DNA sequencing data analysis, NGS, & Biology prerequisites...

4. Bioinformatics with Python

udemy
4.1
(378)

A Complete Guide For Beginners...

5. Plant Bioinformatics

coursera

The past 15 years have been exciting ones in plant biology. Hundreds of plant genomes have been sequenced, RNA-seq has enabled transcriptome-wide expression profiling, and a proliferation of "-seq"-based methods has permitted protein-protein and protein-DNA interactions to be determined cheaply and in a high-throughput manner. These data sets in turn allow us to generate hypotheses at the click of a mouse. For instance, knowing where and when a gene is expressed can help us narrow down the...

6. Applied Statistical Modeling for Data Analysis in R

udemy
4.6
(1,688)

Your Complete Guide to Statistical Data Analysis and Visualization For Practical Applications in R...

7. Research Methodology: Complete Research Project Blueprint

udemy
4.6
(857)

Research Methodology From A-Z. A Step-by-Step Guide Through Research Design, Data Collection, Analysis, & Interpretation...

8. Fundamentals of Data Analysis for Big Data

udemy
4.5
(270)

This course prepares participants to begin running data analysis on databases...

9. Python Data Analysis & Visualization Bootcamp

udemy
4.5
(3,622)

Financial Data Analysis and Visualization with Python: The High Quality Study kit...

10. Core Spatial Data Analysis: Introductory GIS with R and QGIS

udemy
4.4
(1,989)

Become Proficient In Spatial Data Analysis Using R & QGIS By Working On A Real Project - Get A Job In Spatial Data!...

11. Qualitative Data Analysis using MAXQDA: Scratch to Advanced

udemy
4.1
(621)

Master Qualitative Research Method, Content Analysis, Grounded Theory, Thematic Analysis and more with MAXQDA Analytics...

12. Complete Data Science Training with Python for Data Analysis

udemy
4.5
(1,893)

Beginners python data analytics : Data science introduction : Learn data science : Python data analysis methods tutorial...

13. Data Analysis with Pandas and Python

udemy
4.6
(20,640)

Analyze data quickly and easily with Python's powerful pandas library! All datasets included --- beginners welcome!...

14. Statistics / Data Analysis: Survey Data and Likert Scales

udemy
4.6
(505)

How to Process Survey Data and Analyze Likert Scales In SPSS...

15. Statistics for Data Analysis Using R

udemy
4.7
(2,082)

Learn Programming in R & R Studio • Descriptive, Inferential Statistics • Plots for Data Visualization • Data Science...

16. R Programming: Advanced Analytics In R For Data Science

udemy
4.7
(8,622)

Take Your R & R Studio Skills To The Next Level. Data Analytics, Data Science, Statistical Analysis in Business, GGPlot2...

17. Complete Data Wrangling & Data Visualisation With Python

udemy
4.4
(853)

Learn to Preprocess, Wrangle and Visualise Data For Practical Data Science Applications in Python...

18. Learn Bioinformatics From Scratch (Theory & Practical)

udemy
4.4
(1,157)

Best Bioinformatics course for Students, Academia and Industry Professionals to learn Bioinformatics and biological data...

19. R Level 1 - Data Analytics with R

udemy
4.6
(3,228)

Use R for Data Analytics and Data Mining...

20. Data Science:Data Mining & Natural Language Processing in R

udemy
4.7
(387)

Harness the Power of Machine Learning in R for Data/Text Mining, & Natural Language Processing with Practical Examples...

Top 10 most affordable universities for bioinformatics research technicians

The most affordable schools for bioinformatics research technicians are University of Florida, hunter college of the city university of new york, and california state university - bakersfield.

If the best universities for bioinformatics research technicians are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for bioinformatics research technicians.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,182

Cost of attendance

13,998

3. California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$7,309

Cost of attendance

16,714

4. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

5. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

6. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

7. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

8. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Cost of attendance

25,527

9. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

10. California State University - Dominguez Hills

Carson, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,942

Cost of attendance

14,469

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for bioinformatics research technicians

The hardest universities for bioinformatics research technicians to get into are Harvard University, Stanford University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for bioinformatics research technicians are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for bioinformatics research technicians based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.

1. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

2. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

5. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

Admissions rate

9%

SAT average

1,516

6. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

7. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

8. Carnegie Mellon University

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

17%

SAT average

1,507

9. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

10. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,456

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for bioinformatics research technicians

The easiest schools for bioinformatics research technicians to get into are Barry University, our lady of the lake university, and la roche college.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a bioinformatics research technician without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for bioinformatics research technicians.

1. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

2. Our Lady of the Lake University

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

93%

SAT average

1,002

3. La Roche College

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

Admissions rate

99%

SAT average

1,008

4. Notre Dame College

Cleveland, OH • Private

Admissions rate

90%

SAT average

994

5. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

6. Wayland Baptist University

Plainview, TX • Private

Admissions rate

98%

SAT average

1,003

7. The University of Texas at El Paso

El Paso, TX • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,035

8. Cardinal Stritch University

Milwaukee, WI • Private

Admissions rate

71%

SAT average

1,035

9. San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA • Private

Admissions rate

72%

SAT average

1,054

10. Oklahoma Wesleyan University

Bartlesville, OK • Private

Admissions rate

68%

SAT average

964

Average bioinformatics research technician salary by education level

According to our data, bioinformatics research technicians with a Bachelor's degree earn the highest average salary, at $55,421 annually. Bioinformatics research technicians with a Associate degree earn an average annual salary of $54,752.
Bioinformatics research technician education levelBioinformatics research technician salary
High School Diploma or Less$52,582
Bachelor's Degree$55,421
Some College/ Associate Degree$54,752

Bioinformatics research technician education FAQs

Search for bioinformatics research technician jobs

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Browse office and administrative jobs