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

What is a contract laboratory technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Benjamin Ford

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a contract laboratory technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.37 an hour? That's $40,285 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 4% and produce 2,700 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a contract laboratory technician?

Benjamin Ford

Professor and Chair, Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Students graduating this year have come through a life-changing year. I'd encourage them to embrace that change. Rather than putting this year behind them and moving on, I'd like graduates to reflect on what worked and didn't work in the past year, and use that reflection to improve themselves and the world. This could be as simple as continuing to hone the time management skills we were all forced to develop, or as large as working to dismantle one of the structural inequalities that became glaringly apparent as nations struggled with health and economy.

ScoreContract Laboratory TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $40,285

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.6

Growth rate 4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.80%

Asian 12.04%

Black or African American 9.95%

Hispanic or Latino 17.53%

Unknown 5.13%

White 54.54%

Gender

female 42.21%

male 57.79%

Age - 44

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 - 44

Stress level

6.6

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

9.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.7

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a contract laboratory technician

Explore contract laboratory technician education requirements

Most common contract laboratory technician degrees

Bachelor's

70.3 %

Associate

16.5 %

Master's

6.0 %

Start to develop specific contract laboratory technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Lab Equipment	28.41%
Laboratory Procedures	7.60%
R	6.15%
GMP	4.35%
Analytical Techniques	3.96%

Complete relevant contract laboratory technician training and internships

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

Research contract laboratory technician duties and responsibilities

Utilize wet bench work and HPLC to analyze cathode leads for drug quantity and quality.
Manage patient, and corporate information with compassion and confidentiality.
Work with HPLC, GC-MS, AA to conduct analysis
Prepare gum samples in a GMP laboratory according to scientist formulations.

Prepare your contract laboratory technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your contract laboratory 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 contract laboratory 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 contract laboratory technician resume templates

Build a professional contract laboratory 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 contract laboratory technician resume.