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The differences between instrumentation engineers and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 1-2 years to become an instrumentation engineer, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, an instrumentation engineer has an average salary of $88,783, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for an instrumentation engineer include PLC, autocad and analyzers. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Instrumentation Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $88,783 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $42.68 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 45,735 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 12 |
An instrumentation engineer specializes in designing and developing equipment to optimize business processes. Their responsibilities revolve around performing research and analysis to identify the needs of a company, coordinating with different departments to gather data, devising strategies to create new processes, and preparing reports and presentations for the executives. An instrumentation engineer mostly performs installations and repairs; they also conduct regular maintenance to ensure the efficiency of facilities. Furthermore, they must answer inquiries and resolve issues and concerns, all in adherence to the company's policies and regulations.
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.
Instrumentation engineers and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Instrumentation Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $88,783 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $65,000 And $119,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cupertino, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Apple | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between an instrumentation engineer and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Instrumentation Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 79% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Nursing |
| Most common college | Michigan Technological University | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between instrumentation engineers' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Instrumentation Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 45 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 91.2% Female, 8.8% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 15.5% White, 63.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | 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 | 6% | 8% |