How many years of college do you need to be an environmental technician?

You need two years of college to become an environmental technician. However, prospective environmental technicians with a bachelor's degree have some advantages, such as greater hireability, a larger pay rate, and greater opportunity for career advancement.

How much do environmental techs make?

Environmental techs make $37,000 a year, on average ($18.19 an hour). The range in how much environmental techs can earn starts from as little as $28,000 to as much as $52,000 a year. Factors such as location and industry impact how much an environmental tech can earn.

How To Become An Environmental Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an environmental technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Shannon Farrell Ph.D.

Environmental technicians work closely together with environmental engineers to combat pollution and minimize the harmful effects of industrial activities. They do research to identify, evaluate, and control contaminated environments by conducting field tests, collecting samples, or managing hazardous waste.

As an environmental technician, you will be responsible for maintaining equipment and ensuring operations comply with safety and health regulations. You might work in the field or in a lab analyzing contaminated material. You might also be expected to create reports on your findings.

You can specialize in a certain area like the prevention of pollution in the water or air, soil, etc. You will need a degree in chemistry, biology, or any other area related to applied sciences. You need to be precise, attentive, and easy to communicate with, as you will most likely work in a team with other researchers.

What general advice would you give to an environmental technician?

Shannon Farrell Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Your career path is not likely to be one step after another in the same prescribed direction. In today's unique circumstances, be prepared to be flexible, open-minded, and alert for new and unexpected opportunities. Be ready to take multiple jobs in sequence - it is exceedingly rare these days that one finds their 'forever' long term job right off the bat and right out of undergrad. Try things, test, experiment - identifying what spheres of work you like and what spheres you don't like is all a valuable part of data gathering and adaptively moving forward.

If it is hard to find a job in your ideal field, find jobs that provide the opportunity for developing crossover skills: technical and field skills, research skills, writing skills, communication, or management skills. Leverage opportunities to improve and display your executive function skills - planning, organizing, managing, leadership, mentorship, etc. These can all be valuable efforts, even when you aren't working in your preferred scientific field. Be your advocate - make contacts, network, ask for advice, don't be afraid to step out of your comfort zone (it may be uncomfortable, but you will survive!)

ScoreEnvironmental TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,690

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.98%

Asian 10.41%

Black or African American 9.73%

Hispanic or Latino 17.18%

Unknown 5.68%

White 56.02%

Gender

female 26.70%

male 73.30%

Age - 35

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 - 35

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.2

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an environmental technician

Explore environmental technician education requirements

Most common environmental technician degrees

Bachelor's

47.1 %

High School Diploma

20.6 %

Associate

18.9 %

Start to develop specific environmental technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	12.12%
OSHA	7.40%
Hazardous Materials	6.13%
Customer Service	6.03%
Patient Rooms	5.05%

Complete relevant environmental technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 3-6 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New environmental 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 an environmental technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real environmental technician resumes.

Research environmental technician duties and responsibilities

Lead a crew of twelve techs in various archaeological excavations.
Manage designated areas to ensure proper cleanliness and safety.
Manage daily RCRA inspections and mechanical, electrical, and electronic equipment preventive/corrective maintenance procedures.
Provide contractor oversight, including monitoring of technical performance of sub-contractors managing remedial cleanup projects involving hazardous waste.

Prepare your environmental technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your environmental 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 an environmental 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 environmental technician resume templates

Build a professional environmental 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 environmental technician resume.

Apply for environmental technician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an environmental 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 environmental technicians rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

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1 star

Environmental technician reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2024

Cons

The work wears you down physically and mentally. After working on so many spills that are clearly the fault carelessness and disregard for fault of a careless person or organization. Leaves little hope for the future of our planet.

A zippia user wrote a review on Feb 2021

Pros

Firstly, the most important is to protect our planet for us and the future generations. Secondly our planet is not going to support the pressure and negative impacts because of the big Increased human population . Finally our planet needs more and more environmental specialists to regulate and control all human activities, especially the ilegal ones.