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The differences between environmental technicians and lead field technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an environmental technician and a lead field technician. Additionally, a lead field technician has an average salary of $40,838, which is higher than the $39,690 average annual salary of an environmental technician.
The top three skills for an environmental technician include patients, OSHA and hazardous materials. The most important skills for a lead field technician are customer service, data collection, and GPS.
| Environmental Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $39,690 | $40,838 |
| Hourly rate | $19.08 | $19.63 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 43,079 | 88,080 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An environmental technician is responsible for identifying, evaluating, preventing, and controlling contamination of the environment. They study how it affects human health with the supervision of environmental engineers and environmental scientists. Environmental technicians work by monitoring the environment and look for possible sources of pollution and contamination that can possibly affect public health. They make sure that environmental violations are prevented. In addition, an environmental technician also investigates any complaint that is related to water quality, air quality, and food safety.
The Lead Field Technician serves as the assistant of the Field Supervisor. Their responsibility includes taking immediate action and making decisions for instances that individuals or organizations need their help. They are the one who implements and monitors a company's guidelines and policy and maintains the standard procedure of all the systems. Also, being an assistant, they can act as an overseer to determine the employees and equipment types that need to work smoothly and orderly.
Environmental technicians and lead field technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Environmental Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Average salary | $39,690 | $40,838 |
| Salary range | Between $30,000 And $51,000 | Between $24,000 And $67,000 |
| Highest paying City | Danbury, CT | Oakland, CA |
| Highest paying state | Connecticut | Nevada |
| Best paying company | City of Detroit | Schneider Electric Industrial Services |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Utilities |
There are a few differences between an environmental technician and a lead field technician in terms of educational background:
| Environmental Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 47% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Most common major | Environmental Science | Business |
| Most common college | Duke University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between environmental technicians' and lead field technicians' demographics:
| Environmental Technician | Lead Field Technician | |
| Average age | 38 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 73.3% Female, 26.7% | Male, 87.2% Female, 12.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.2% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% | Black or African American, 9.7% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 17.0% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.0% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 8% |