Engineering technician vs senior engineering technician

The differences between engineering technicians and senior engineering technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an engineering technician and a senior engineering technician. Additionally, a senior engineering technician has an average salary of $88,615, which is higher than the $60,273 average annual salary of an engineering technician.

The top three skills for an engineering technician include technical support, data collection and test equipment. The most important skills for a senior engineering technician are java, SR, and emerging technologies.

Engineering technician vs senior engineering technician overview

	Engineering Technician	Senior Engineering Technician
Yearly salary	$60,273	$88,615
Hourly rate	$28.98	$42.60
Growth rate	3%	3%
Number of jobs	111,343	94,734
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 46%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	45	45
Years of experience	4	4

What does an engineering technician do?

An Engineering Technician's duties vary according to the industry or company, whether mechanical, industrial, civil, agricultural, or more. However, most of the time, the responsibilities often revolve around resolving technical issues, working with and assisting Engineers in building, assembling, designing, gathering and testing data, and conducting more manual activities. Furthermore, Engineering Technicians can specialize and work in various fields after a certain training period, closely mentored or monitored by an engineer or someone with extensive expertise.

What does a senior engineering technician do?

A Senior Engineering Technician uses the technical principles of engineering to create and develop a project or product. They also provide technical assistance to professional engineering staff on special projects.

Engineering technician vs senior engineering technician salary

Engineering technicians and senior engineering technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Engineering Technician	Senior Engineering Technician
Average salary	$60,273	$88,615
Salary range	Between $37,000 And $96,000	Between $63,000 And $123,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	Washington	Idaho
Best paying company	Western Digital	CrowdStrike
Best paying industry	Technology	Energy

Differences between engineering technician and senior engineering technician education

There are a few differences between an engineering technician and a senior engineering technician in terms of educational background:

	Engineering Technician	Senior Engineering Technician
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 46%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Electrical Engineering	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Purdue University	Purdue University

Engineering technician vs senior engineering technician demographics

Here are the differences between engineering technicians' and senior engineering technicians' demographics:

	Engineering Technician	Senior Engineering Technician
Average age	45	45
Gender ratio	Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1%	Male, 88.5% Female, 11.5%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 9.2% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.9% Unknown, 4.8% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 11.3% White, 58.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between engineering technician and senior engineering technician duties and responsibilities

Engineering technician example responsibilities.

Used Microsoft SharePoint to manage projects, web base collaboration, alerts and for document management.
Achieve UL certification for thermal overload protection used in motor applications.
Manage equipment database and organize annual equipment calibration require by internal quality control and ISO standards.
Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Maintain engineering lab equipment: troubleshoot and repair any faulty electronic or mechanical malfunctions, and calibrate test equipment.
Specialize in software and hardware engineering to military standards and project management of DoD contracts.

Senior engineering technician example responsibilities.

Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Determine and insure how statistical process control (SPC) are performed, collect, and update.
Test equipment utilize included DMM's, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, waveform function generators, and signal generators.
Demonstrate expertise in analog and digital electronic circuit design.
Rework and diagnose SMT PCBs.
Implement native and HTML5 UI.

Engineering technician vs senior engineering technician skills

Common engineering technician skills

Technical Support, 5%
Data Collection, 4%
Test Equipment, 4%
Asphalt, 4%
Construction Projects, 4%
Construction Materials, 4%

Common senior engineering technician skills

Java, 8%
SR, 5%
Emerging Technologies, 5%
Troubleshoot, 4%
Technical Support, 4%
Project Management, 4%

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Engineering Technician vs Senior Engineering Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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