Lead cook vs certified medical technician

The differences between lead cooks and certified medical technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a lead cook, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a certified medical technician has an average salary of $38,859, which is higher than the $35,964 average annual salary of a lead cook.

The top three skills for a lead cook include customer service, food handling and culinary. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.

Lead cook vs certified medical technician overview

	Lead Cook	Certified Medical Technician
Yearly salary	$35,964	$38,859
Hourly rate	$17.29	$18.68
Growth rate	16%	5%
Number of jobs	160,223	164,424
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Average age	38	44
Years of experience	4	12

What does a lead cook do?

A lead cook, or lead line cook, is an individual restaurant employee who is in charge of supervising the chain of food preparation done by line cooks. Lead cooks work directly under head cooks or chefs who provide instructions in preparing meals. They are well-versed in the restaurant's food health and safety, such as regular hand washing, utensil sanitizing, and proper garbage disposal. To be a successful lead cook, they must obtain knowledge of various cooking techniques and be passionate about food.

What does a certified medical technician do?

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.

Lead cook vs certified medical technician salary

Lead cooks and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Lead Cook	Certified Medical Technician
Average salary	$35,964	$38,859
Salary range	Between $27,000 And $46,000	Between $28,000 And $53,000
Highest paying City	Seattle, WA	Denton, TX
Highest paying state	Washington	Alaska
Best paying company	Freeport-McMoRan	Favorite Healthcare Staffing
Best paying industry	Health Care	Health Care

Differences between lead cook and certified medical technician education

There are a few differences between a lead cook and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:

	Lead Cook	Certified Medical Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 35%	Bachelor's Degree, 28%
Most common major	Culinary Arts	Nursing
Most common college	-	University of Connecticut

Lead cook vs certified medical technician demographics

Here are the differences between lead cooks' and certified medical technicians' demographics:

	Lead Cook	Certified Medical Technician
Average age	38	44
Gender ratio	Male, 72.6% Female, 27.4%	Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 9.3% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 9.4% White, 57.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	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%

Differences between lead cook and certified medical technician duties and responsibilities

Lead cook example responsibilities.

Manage food expo; facilitate food temp logs; creation of menu specials; management and supervision of production staff
Manage inventory and purchasing of groceries.
Operate standard cooking equipment including slicers, food choppers, fryers, refrigerators, ovens and stoves.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, turbo chefs, and fryers.
Use and clean commercial ovens, meat slicers, steamers, combination ovens and steam kettles.
Operate ovens, stoves, grills, microwaves, kettles, and tilt skillet.

Certified medical technician example responsibilities.

Maintain the cleanliness of storage areas, trays, centrifuges, refrigerators, freezers and work area.
Administer medications to patients according to their medication record as scheduled, as needed according to physician orders.
Perform laboratory test and procedures in areas including chemistry, hematology, urinalysis, coagulation, serology, and bacteriology.
Perform first aid and apply CPR when necessary.
Perform first aid or CPR during medical emergencies until paramedics arrive.
Assist the residents in their ADL needs and prepare their meals.

Lead cook vs certified medical technician skills

Common lead cook skills

Customer Service, 14%
Food Handling, 14%
Culinary, 11%
Food Service, 11%
Kitchen Equipment, 7%
Math, 5%

Common certified medical technician skills

Patients, 17%
Vital Signs, 12%
CPR, 8%
Administer Medications, 7%
Resident Care, 6%
HIPAA, 6%

Lead Cook vs. similar jobs

Lead Cook related careers

Lead Cook related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Food Preparation and Restaurant Industry
Lead Cook
Lead Cook vs Certified Medical Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse food preparation and restaurant jobs