How To Become A Composite Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a composite technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Composite technicians are involved in building and maintaining composite parts of an aircraft. Working with composites is quite specific to aircraft, and most jobs in this field are in aerospace organizations. Composite technicians are also called compound engineers, composite lay-up engineers, composite design engineers, and composite structures engineers.

Composite technicians work with new aircraft parts, using oven processes and vacuum techniques, and maintain and repair composite aircraft components made of fiberglass and other carbon materials. They are responsible for understanding technical plans and blueprints, and they use precision tools.

To qualify for this position, applicants must at least have a high school diploma or GED certificate, with other educational requirements varying with the industry.

The national average salary for a composite technician is $41,440 in the United States. So, they can expect an average base pay of $26 per hour as a composite technician.

ScoreComposite TechnicianUS Average

Salary

2.6

Avg. Salary $33,380

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.5

Growth rate -5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

7.4

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.90%

Asian 8.39%

Black or African American 9.48%

Hispanic or Latino 22.87%

Unknown 4.39%

White 53.97%

Gender

female 16.04%

male 83.96%

Age - 46

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 - 46

Stress level

5.5

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.9

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a composite technician

Explore composite technician education requirements

Most common composite technician degrees

High School Diploma

31.8 %

Associate

25.2 %

Bachelor's

24.0 %

Start to develop specific composite technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Hand Tools	14.48%
Calipers	8.64%
Composite Materials	7.32%
Engineering Drawings	5.69%
Grinders	3.90%

Complete relevant composite technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New composite technicians 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 composite technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real composite technician resumes.

Research composite technician duties and responsibilities

Manage utilization of LOTO procedures, GMP standards and OSHA safety standards.
Fabricate parts from stock maintaining alloy, heat treat, surface finish including aluminum, stainless steel and titanium.
Complete courses on OSHA requirements.
Maintain MSDS and other OSHA relate paperwork.

Prepare your composite technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your composite technician 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 composite technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable composite technician resume templates

Build a professional composite technician 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 composite technician resume.

Apply for composite technician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a composite technician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do composite technicians rate their job?

3.5/5

Based on 2 ratings

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Composite technician reviews

2.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2020

Pros

Working with my hands and using power tools

Cons

The repetitive work I've experienced and not knowing how it where to further my education in composites careers.

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019