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The differences between health fitness specialists and certified medical 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 health fitness specialist and a certified medical technician. Additionally, a certified medical technician has an average salary of $38,859, which is higher than the $37,089 average annual salary of a health fitness specialist.
The top three skills for a health fitness specialist include customer service, health fitness and administrative tasks. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Health Fitness Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $37,089 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $17.83 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 19% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 57,379 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 37 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
A health fitness specialist's role is to promote fitness through different strategies and health programs. Their responsibilities mostly revolve around researching and developing exercise routines for various people, conducting fitness training sessions for small or large groups, assisting clients in their fitness goals, and ensuring a safe and healthy environment for all clients. Moreover, a health fitness specialist may provide private training sessions at home, to clients who are recovering from ailments or injuries, and even to private institutions such as universities and hospitals.
Certified Medical Technicians are specialists in medical diagnoses by performing laboratory testing and analysis for hospitals and physicians. Their duties include lab sanitization to prepare for testing and collection, recording medical samples for testing, specimen preparation, blood drawing for donation and testing, and assisting physicians with sample collection as well as equipment handling in surgical rooms. They must also understand how to use complex and sensitive testing equipment such as cell counters, analyzers, microscopes, and centrifuges.
Health fitness specialists and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Health Fitness Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $37,089 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $49,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Santa Clara, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | STG International | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Hospitality | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a health fitness specialist and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Health Fitness Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Kinesiology | Nursing |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between health fitness specialists' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Health Fitness Specialist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 37 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 41.3% Female, 58.7% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 7.1% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 10.6% Asian, 5.1% White, 71.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | Black or African American, 15.9% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 14.6% Asian, 10.0% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 13% | 8% |