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Exhibit technician vs curatorial specialist

The differences between exhibit technicians and curatorial specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an exhibit technician and a curatorial specialist. Additionally, a curatorial specialist has an average salary of $43,840, which is higher than the $34,387 average annual salary of an exhibit technician.

The top three skills for an exhibit technician include exhibit design, prototyping and exhibit maintenance. The most important skills for a curatorial specialist are cataloging, , and .

Exhibit technician vs curatorial specialist overview

Exhibit TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Yearly salary$34,387$43,840
Hourly rate$16.53$21.08
Growth rate12%12%
Number of jobs5,76023,992
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Exhibit technician vs curatorial specialist salary

Exhibit technicians and curatorial specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Exhibit TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Average salary$34,387$43,840
Salary rangeBetween $18,000 And $63,000Between $28,000 And $68,000
Highest paying City--
Highest paying state--
Best paying company--
Best paying industry--

Differences between exhibit technician and curatorial specialist education

There are a few differences between an exhibit technician and a curatorial specialist in terms of educational background:

Exhibit TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorFine ArtsAnthropology
Most common collegeHarvard UniversityUniversity of Maryland - College Park

Exhibit technician vs curatorial specialist demographics

Here are the differences between exhibit technicians' and curatorial specialists' demographics:

Exhibit TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 80.1% Female, 19.9%Male, 30.0% Female, 70.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.1% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.1% Asian, 4.9% White, 77.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 5.2% Asian, 3.5% White, 81.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between exhibit technician and curatorial specialist duties and responsibilities

Exhibit technician example responsibilities.

  • Manage paperwork associate with HVAC procedures.
  • Diagnose, troubleshoot and repair systemic problems, commission new turbines, evaluate readiness for operations.
  • Perform archeological field excavations and laboratory analysis.

Curatorial specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage user securities, roles, database backups, restore, fail-over management for SQL cluster.
  • Assist in cataloging incoming items for the collection.
  • Supervise student employees responsible for processing and cataloging collections.
  • Conduct research using online federal regulations, review Medicare and Medicaid policy and guidelines to complete an accurate and well-support decision.
  • Facilitate multi-year project digitizing and cataloguing decoration in manuscripts (approx.

Exhibit technician vs curatorial specialist skills

Common exhibit technician skills
  • Exhibit Design, 21%
  • Prototyping, 17%
  • Exhibit Maintenance, 13%
  • Interactive Exhibits, 13%
  • Exhibit Components, 10%
  • Museum Exhibits, 9%
Common curatorial specialist skills
  • Cataloging, 100%

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