Cytology laboratory technician vs senior laboratory technician

The differences between cytology laboratory technicians and senior laboratory technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a cytology laboratory technician and a senior laboratory technician. Additionally, a senior laboratory technician has an average salary of $48,530, which is higher than the $46,680 average annual salary of a cytology laboratory technician.

The top three skills for a cytology laboratory technician include clinical laboratory, laboratory equipment and routine maintenance. The most important skills for a senior laboratory technician are lab equipment, patients, and research projects.

Cytology laboratory technician vs senior laboratory technician overview

	Cytology Laboratory Technician	Senior Laboratory Technician
Yearly salary	$46,680	$48,530
Hourly rate	$22.44	$23.33
Growth rate	-	9%
Number of jobs	41,901	63,876
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	12	12

Cytology laboratory technician vs senior laboratory technician salary

Cytology laboratory technicians and senior laboratory technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Cytology Laboratory Technician	Senior Laboratory Technician
Average salary	$46,680	$48,530
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $78,000	Between $34,000 And $67,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	California
Best paying company	-	Genentech
Best paying industry	-	Manufacturing

Differences between cytology laboratory technician and senior laboratory technician education

There are a few differences between a cytology laboratory technician and a senior laboratory technician in terms of educational background:

	Cytology Laboratory Technician	Senior Laboratory Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 68%	Bachelor's Degree, 64%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	Northwestern University	New York University

Cytology laboratory technician vs senior laboratory technician demographics

Here are the differences between cytology laboratory technicians' and senior laboratory technicians' demographics:

	Cytology Laboratory Technician	Senior Laboratory Technician
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 33.3% Female, 66.7%	Male, 58.6% Female, 41.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 12.9% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 16.2% Asian, 11.9% White, 53.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%	Black or African American, 10.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 12.0% White, 54.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between cytology laboratory technician and senior laboratory technician duties and responsibilities

Cytology laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Lead aerobic, anaerobic and UV light testing, chemical residue testing and centrifuge to separate chemicals from water.
Maintain and operate laboratory equipment and commendably troubleshoot and resolve an assortment of laboratory testing analyzers and perform diverse chemical tests.
Read experimental protocols and perform experiments following directions (including tissue collection, molecular biology, gel electrophoresis, etc . )

Senior laboratory technician example responsibilities.

Lead aerobic, anaerobic and UV light testing, chemical residue testing and centrifuge to separate chemicals from water.
Operate a binary distillation column using LabView to separate a mixture of methanol and water.
Provide and sign certificate of analyses for wet chemistry and microbiology.
Perform CFU-blast, CFU-C, CFU-D, CFU-S assays.
Create raw material library on FTIR.
Perform manual titration, including testing bacteria and other water tests.

Cytology laboratory technician vs senior laboratory technician skills

Common cytology laboratory technician skills

Clinical Laboratory, 36%
Laboratory Equipment, 17%
Routine Maintenance, 14%
Non-Gynecological, 13%
FNA, 10%
Equipment Maintenance, 9%

Common senior laboratory technician skills

Lab Equipment, 9%
Patients, 8%
Research Projects, 5%
Cell Culture, 4%
Safety Procedures, 4%
Molecular Biology, 4%

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Cytology Laboratory Technician
Cytology Laboratory Technician vs Senior Laboratory Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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