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Job outlook for lead technicians in the United States
Lead technician job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected lead technician job growth rate is 10% from 2018-2028.
About 83,100 new jobs for lead technicians are projected over the next decade.
Lead technician salaries have increased 9% for lead technicians in the last 5 years.
There are over 293,312 lead technicians currently employed in the United States.
There are 250,590 active lead technician job openings in the US.
The average lead technician salary is $90,615.
Are lead technician jobs in demand?
Lead technician job and salary trends over time
Lead technician jobs over time
Lead technician job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 293,312 | 0.09% |
| 2020 | 392,722 | 0.12% |
| 2019 | 147,391 | 0.04% |
| 2018 | 238,342 | 0.07% |
| 2017 | 228,037 | 0.07% |
Average lead technician salary over time
Lead technician salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $90,615 | $43.57 | +3.4% |
| 2025 | $87,630 | $42.13 | +2.3% |
| 2024 | $85,646 | $41.18 | +1.5% |
| 2023 | $84,352 | $40.55 | +1.7% |
| 2022 | $82,974 | $39.89 | +1.6% |
Lead technician jobs by state
Most common states for lead technicians
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 426 | 61% |
| 2 | New Hampshire | 1,342,795 | 497 | 37% |
| 3 | Alaska | 739,795 | 261 | 35% |
| 4 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 345 | 33% |
| 5 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 995 | 32% |
| 6 | Delaware | 961,939 | 288 | 30% |
| 7 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 441 | 26% |
| 8 | Montana | 1,050,493 | 272 | 26% |
| 9 | Vermont | 623,657 | 162 | 26% |
| 10 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 2,038 | 24% |
| 11 | Kansas | 2,913,123 | 705 | 24% |
| 12 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 207 | 24% |
| 13 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,610 | 23% |
| 14 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 449 | 23% |
| 15 | Pennsylvania | 12,805,537 | 2,868 | 22% |
| 16 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 1,258 | 22% |
| 17 | Ohio | 11,658,609 | 2,402 | 21% |
| 18 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 2,067 | 20% |
| 19 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 707 | 20% |
| 20 | Arkansas | 3,004,279 | 592 | 20% |
Most common cities for lead technicians
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Newark | 9 | 27% | $90,656 |
| 2 | Atlanta | 37 | 8% | $80,440 |
| 3 | Tallahassee | 11 | 6% | $79,690 |
| 4 | Boston | 26 | 4% | $89,488 |
| 5 | Tampa | 15 | 4% | $80,342 |
| 6 | Washington | 22 | 3% | $95,747 |
| 7 | Baltimore | 16 | 3% | $91,751 |
| 8 | Sacramento | 12 | 2% | $110,974 |
| 9 | Denver | 11 | 2% | $80,848 |
| 10 | Miami | 9 | 2% | $79,588 |
| 11 | Minneapolis | 9 | 2% | $83,866 |
| 12 | Chicago | 35 | 1% | $81,640 |
| 13 | Phoenix | 15 | 1% | $82,829 |
| 14 | San Diego | 13 | 1% | $99,170 |
| 15 | San Francisco | 13 | 1% | $113,329 |
| 16 | Jacksonville | 12 | 1% | $80,073 |
| 17 | Indianapolis | 11 | 1% | $78,431 |
| 18 | San Jose | 10 | 1% | $112,981 |
| 19 | Austin | 8 | 1% | $83,307 |
| 20 | Los Angeles | 13 | 0% | $104,099 |
Lead Technician job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of lead technician experts
Nova Southeastern University
Texas A&M University
Taylor University
University of Phoenix - Maryland Campus
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Southeastern Louisiana University
University of Minnesota - Crookston
Gannon University
The University of Arizona
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
University of Toledo
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Eastern Washington University
Landmark College
Florida Atlantic University
Auburn University at Montgomery
University of New Haven
Junping Sun Ph.D.
ProfessorNova Southeastern University
Computer Software And Media Applications
What Lead Technician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Junping Sun Ph.D.: Computer Science and its applications in various fields are very dynamic and constantly evolving, and anyone in the fields needs to prepare to be adaptive by lifelong learning.
What general advice would you give to a Lead Technician?
Dale Dzielski MBA, CMA®, PMP®, SAFe® 4 Agilist: Be prepared for a lifelong learning experience; it just begins now. Be confident in what you know but open to learn more because you will.
What Lead Technician skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Aakash Tyagi: Treat your career as a marathon, not a sprint. Early years in one's career are best spent understanding the technology at its core and what drives innovation. You'll be a great developer and a great leader if your technical fundamentals are strong. This has never been so true than now in the age of generative AI and LLM where creativity and depth of understanding is what will set you apart from others (human and machine).
What general advice would you give to a Lead Technician?
Evgenia Smirni: I would say that quick pivoting and embracing changes is very important - this is a very fast changing field.
MARLA KRAMER
Assistant Vice President of Marketing and CommunicationsWhat general advice would you give to a Lead Technician?
MARLA KRAMER: Do the necessary course work from a reputed institution, where you can get the necessary hands-on experience under the tutelage of an established expert. Create a portfolio of your work on GitHub so that you can share your projects with potential employees. It is more important to demonstrate your skills through code, than it is to provide a list of classes that you have taken. Certification courses are expensive, but getting an accredited certificate in Mobile Application Development or any of the rapidly growing fields is always an advantage. The internet has a lot of uncurated, self-published, and incorrect information, especially when it comes to computer science. It is important that you pick your sources wisely as you build your skills.
Dr. Jonathan Denning
Associate Professor and Department Co-chairTaylor University
Computer Science
What will help Lead Technicians increase their earning potential?
Dr. Jonathan Denning: 1. Keep learning the fundamentals. The CS field is ever changing, so don't get caught up in understanding only the latest and greatest framework or language, as tomorrow there will be another one to replace it. Instead, focus on the fundamentals, so that you can quickly become familiar with whatever framework is decided upon.
Anmol Dash
Adjunct Professor in Information Systems + Software Engineer (My full time job)University of Phoenix - Maryland Campus
Computer/Information Technology Administration And Management
What general advice would you give to a Lead Technician?
Anmol Dash: In the next 3-5 Years, I truly see thought leadership being a valuable Asset. What I mean by this is that as AI comes and commoditizes certain subsets of different industries, the thoughts, and ideation is going to be the most valuable. Additionally, having a basic understanding of AI, will be crucial. Tech Stack wise, I see Javascript really growing and becoming a super necessary language to learn. Also being able to articulate and speak publicly are some great soft skills to have.
Travis Mandel Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorUniversity of Hawaii at Hilo
Department of Computer Science
What skills stand out on Lead Technician resumes?
Travis Mandel Ph.D.: The number one thing that employers typically look for is a project that demonstrates your ability to program something new and useful. The best projects are ones that someone undertakes independently or with a small group of others - if it is the latter, you need to clarify what you contributed. It's even better if you include a link to public code on Github so that employers can look around your Github page and get a sense of your coding style. A working demo is also very impressive. Ideally, this wouldn't be something you were forced to do for a class but rather something you took the independent initiative to do.
College GPA doesn't matter as much as people think it does - most companies care much more about what you can do than how well you did in class. Unless it is extremely low, it shouldn't be a problem. Listing courses can be useful, but even better would be listing skills you learned in classes. For instance, the class "Artificial Intelligence" means completely different things at institutions. So employers may not necessarily understand what skills you learned in that class unless you highlight them.
What soft skills should all Lead Technicians possess?
Travis Mandel Ph.D.: Although computer science seems like a highly technical field, soft skills are really what differentiates software engineers. One of the most important qualities of any software engineer is explaining their code clearly at various levels of technical depth and explaining why certain design decisions were made. You could write code that does amazing things, but if that code consists of snippets you pasted from StackOverflow without really fully understanding them, it will be a huge headache for anyone who needs to come into the codebase later and maintain or update it.
Another one is asking the right questions. Imagine you are dropped into a huge codebase and asked to add a new feature (very common!). There's no time to understand everything that is going on, but on the other hand, you need to understand enough of the code to do your task effectively, which involves asking questions. A failure to ask questions will likely result in you wasting a huge amount of time working on something that is ultimately not useful, for instance, re-implementing a complex function that already exists somewhere in the codebase.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Lead Technicians?
Travis Mandel Ph.D.: Being comfortable with refactoring code is definitely one of the big ones here. Absolutely no one writes perfect code right off the bat - a good software engineer should recognize that and always be open and receptive to suggestions about improving their code. Even in the absence of such suggestions, a software engineer must be able to independently recognize that "the tower is about to fall over"! Meaning, if the code is turning into a real mess, a good software engineer will be able to realize that and independently begin refactoring it into a better state, even if that takes time away from implementing new features.
Another one I'll mention briefly is designing class inheritance diagrams to solve a new problem. The right structure here can allow components to be easily re-used and extended. But the wrong structure can lead to disastrous consequences, so it requires a lot of thought about how things will likely evolve in the future.
What skills will help Lead Technicians earn the most?
Travis Mandel Ph.D.: Solid foundational skills in data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Even if you are not an AI researcher or machine learning engineer, with AI becoming so pervasive, chances are your code will have to interact with it at some point. Although listing many of the latest technologies (Tensorflow/Keras, Pytorch) looks great on a resume, what is even more valuable is a solid grasp of the fundamentals that transcend specific libraries. Employers will be impressed by someone who can analyze large data sets in languages like Python, communicate effectively with the machine learning teams, and identify new potential ways to integrate machine learning into the product. This is a highly in-demand skillset that can easily help unlock higher-paying positions.
Dr. Ghanssan Alkadi Ph.D.
Professor of Computer ScienceSoutheastern Louisiana University
Department of Computer Science
What soft skills should all Lead Technicians possess?
Dr. Ghanssan Alkadi Ph.D.: The most important soft skills are how to elicit requirements from clients and how to present the developed software to non-Information technology professionals.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Lead Technicians?
Dr. Ghanssan Alkadi Ph.D.: Analytical and programming skills to solve problems at hand.
Christine Bakke
LecturerUniversity of Minnesota - Crookston
Math, Science & Technology Department
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Lead Technicians?
Christine Bakke: MIS is a technical business degree which is offered with slightly different emphasis depending on the school's home department. For example, if a business department houses the degree it is often referred to as MIS; however, when Information Technology or Computer Science departments house this degree, the program would be called Information Technology Management (ITM) or Computer Information Systems (CIS). Each university has the autonomy to offer variations based on their specializations. Even though the programs can differ slightly, in general students receiving any of these three degrees receive an education in three areas: technical, management/business, and soft skills. Note that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics directs queries for all three fields (ITM, MIS and CIS) to the same data page (see answer to question 3).
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Lead Technician job market given the pandemic?
Christine Bakke: For many years remote tech support has been a growing field, but it was not the norm. Today, remote tech support and IT management have become crucial for daily operations. Remote work requires a solid IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, capable equipment, and quality software. The need for educated and experienced MIS / ITM / CIS will continue to increase.
Trends toward remote offices will become more acceptable and common; while some companies will return to the office en masse, others will allow more flexibility or become hybrid, and some will truly embrace the remote office. Use of remote tools such as Zoom will stay strong, as they provide global access at a huge cost benefit.
How have salaries changed over time for Lead Technicians?
Christine Bakke: In previous questions, I have used my own wording; however, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics is the most accurate source for an answer to this question:
The median pay for ITM, MIS, & CIS (all listed together at the US Bureau of Labor Statistics):
$146,360 per year
$70.37 per hour
"Employment in computer and information technology occupations is projected to grow 11 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations. These occupations are projected to add about 531,200 new jobs. Demand for these workers will stem from greater emphasis on cloud computing, the collection and storage of big data, and information security. "
What type of skills will young Lead Technicians need?
Dr. Stephen Frezza Ph.D.: New computing graduates, more and more, need to understand the delivered value. Software is becoming ubiquitous: the breadth of industries and the depth of industry needs continue to expand. More than ever, the skills and competencies to reliably design, implement, and deploy software solutions are becoming paramount; it is not enough to be good with IT solutions or programming.
The need for computing graduates to be themselves adaptive, to work creatively to see and capitalize on opportunities, not just solve tech problems, is expanding. What is wanted are students who want to be computing professionals, women and men prepared to work together to deliver value to their organization, customers, and the world.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Lead Technicians to find work opportunities?
Dr. Stephen Frezza Ph.D.: Computing is ubiquitous, and with more industries moving to remote work, location is becoming less critical. If the internet reaches a place reliably, computing jobs can be located there.
How do you envision technology impacting Lead Technicians in the next 5 years?
Dr. Stephen Frezza Ph.D.: Breadth and depth: Computing is becoming more like engineering; where the value of the product, its lifetime risks, costs, and benefits are more critical than just it's roll-out. So the engineering competencies that have always been a part of computing will become more central. Computing is also expanding; the role of data and the shift of once-research technologies (like machine learning) into production applications will continue to require computing graduates to broaden their base and continue as learners. This will cause shifts in what is considered 'fundamental' and the need for professionals to continue to hone and redevelop their technical skill sets.
Tyler Conklin
LecturerThe University of Arizona
Computer science Department
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Lead Technician job market given the pandemic?
Tyler Conklin: The impact of the pandemic on the job market is limited in computer science. We are lucky to be in a field where remote work was routine long before the pandemic. This isn't true of all software engineering jobs, but many can be done with only a computer and internet access. The biggest changes come in the interviewing process and how the actual work will occur. It may be a long time before new hires ever meet their coworkers face to face.
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Lead Technicians?
Tyler Conklin: A bachelor's degree in computer science will always help job prospects. I would consider it a great investment. However, some companies have made it clear that they are willing and happy to hire graduates of computer science boot camps. These are shorter courses aimed at teaching the student one specific technology or a very specific set of skills so that student can acquire a job in a certain subfield of software engineering. This is a much cheaper alternative than a traditional four-year degree. The tradeoff is less breadth of knowledge and more limited job options, and of course missing out on everything else that comes with a four-year degree. An even more efficient way to increase job prospects is to work on personal projects. Few things impress an interviewer more than a candidate showing off an application that he or she built on their own. What can show an interviewer that you can do the job better than a project demonstrating the required skills and knowledge?
How have salaries changed over time for Lead Technicians?
Tyler Conklin: Computer scientists and software engineers have been fortunate in seeing salaries continually increase in the field. Computer science student enrollment has continued to skyrocket, leading to a larger workforce, but it appears that demand continues to grow even faster.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lead Technicians?
J.P. Mellor: I'm sure the pandemic will have an enduring impact on all of us. Our students are certainly experiencing new challenges as they strive to learn during the pandemic. They are aquiring skills and competencies associated with working remotely and engaging while doing so. These are skills that students in past years did not attain.
What's a day at work look like for a Lead Technician?
J.P. Mellor: I'm not sure that what our graduates do has changed at all. How they do it has changed somewhat. All of us are learning to connect and engage remotely. Whether they're a recent grad or a not so recent grad they all are learning new skills as a result of the impact of the pandemic.
What will help Lead Technicians increase their earning potential?
J.P. Mellor: Our graduates are particularly good at making positive progress even when the way forward is not clear, they don't know how to do what needs to be accomplished, and/or they've never done it before. This is a skill set requires a solid technical foundation and makes our graduates especially valuable.that is part
What certifications/licenses/courses can have the biggest impact for Lead Technicians?
Jared Onyango Oluoch Ph.D.: In databases - various Oracle database certifications; in networking - Cisco CCNA; in cybersecurity CompTIA security. Engineering and engineering technology graduates will boost their earning potentially by getting the Professional Engineer (PE) license.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Lead Technician job market given the pandemic?
Jared Onyango Oluoch Ph.D.: We are already seeing a lot of professionals working remotely. This trend will likely continue especially in domains such as software engineering. With this may also occur lack of social connections and team building that we have seen over the years with people working in offices or facilities.
How have salaries changed over time for Lead Technicians?
Jared Onyango Oluoch Ph.D.: I think salaries in academia especially in Computer Science and Engineering Technology are rising and are expected to given the demand of graduates in these areas.
Janos Fustos Ph.D.
ProfessorMetropolitan State University of Denver
Department of Computer Information Systems and Business Analytics
What technical skills for a Lead Technician stand out to employers?
Janos Fustos Ph.D.: These days - since we went to the home office - everybody is looking for solutions that gives more and better support to remote workers. Organizations are looking for options where they can connect back to the organizations'' networks to complete their work. But that means much more work for the IT folks to make that happen and do that safely and securely. That means they are looking for individuals with technical skills that are in or closely related fields: security engineers and analysts, business analysts, data administrators, cloud service operators, network specialists etc.
Also, employers are looking for more experienced professional who can hit the ground running because their needs are more pressing and immediate, so they do not have too much time for training and education. But they are also looking for trainers to better educate users about their working environments and the changing working conditions. Users have to rely a bit more on these trainings because they cannot enjoy the immediate and direct IT support in their homes. In addition to that (or to extend that) helpdesk people are also in high demand who have the technical and also the people's skills to troubleshoot the problems that occur in highly uncertain and diverse environments.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lead Technicians?
Janos Fustos Ph.D.: I think the impact will not be that much on the graduates but on the environment where they start their professional career and how they have completed their studies.
This pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives - among others how we work (or stat to work) and how we learn. Being in higher education I can definitely see both. The home office became the standard working environment with all the advantages and several disadvantages. You do not have to go/travel to your corporate office, you may be available even at odd hours to work, some find the home environment more relaxing, there are less formalities, some might communicate easier in writing or from behind a turned-off camera, they could take advantage of personal schedule and individual peek times, more control over their schedules etc.
But even as you work at home you may experience more disruption, you are more available for personal/family affairs, you may not have that much opportunity to interact with colleagues and miss opportunities for meaningful discussions for extending your knowledge base, networking, you have to deal with technical issues on your own or less support etc.
Some similar issues can be mentioned when it comes to changes in the way we participate in education. Most of the class meetings are online with limited individual interaction and/or access to teachers, less direct interaction with classmates, technical challenges, home office setup challenges etc. All these together impact students/graduates differently: some take these as an advantage while some others are impacted more by the disadvantages. But whichever we look at that I think there is a definite impact of the pandemic on all of us and while we have already spent about 10-12 month in this "splendid isolation" and survived more or less so far, we do not know if it may have more enduring or serious impact on our lives - that needs to be seen from a much longer perspective.
What's a good job out of college for Lead Technicians?
Janos Fustos Ph.D.: I hope students are asking that question before they enroll in the first course at a college because otherwise, they would waste lot of time and money to work on a degree or a career path that does not fulfill their goals and personal interest. In that sense any job is a good job that somebody understands, feels that he/she is a good fit and can live up to the imposed challenges, and has the knowledge/skills to work in the field. There are interesting and self-fulfilling jobs to choose from. Certainly, it starts with the definition what a "good" means to an individual, what are the attributes of that definition: is that the professional area, is the salary, is it the challenging nature, is it more about the working environment and the people they can work with, is it the promotion options, the high impact etc. There are several lists available on the internet that provide recommendations and track the different aspects of job selection options for seekers.
Christian Hansen Ph.D.
Professor and Department ChairEastern Washington University
Department of Mathematics
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Lead Technician job market given the pandemic?
Christian Hansen Ph.D.: Within the short-term, the biggest trend in the job market is currently an increased demand for workforce in the healthcare and technology disciplines. In the long-term, healthcare will remain in demand, but I predict the highest future increase will be in the areas of data science, software and computer engineering.
What's a day at work look like for a Lead Technician?
Christian Hansen Ph.D.: In the post-pandemic era, a typical workday for a recent graduate will likely involve some form of remote work. I predict that many businesses will benefit from the reduced cost of remote infrastructure compared to the cost of maintaining brick and mortar office space. Many new graduates will continue to spend their day on a computer while collaborating in teams via Zoom and other teleconference tools. People working in disciplines that have traditionally been "on the ground" will move towards more hybrid modes of work, reducing the need for travel and participating in face-to-face meetings and training.
What soft skills should all Lead Technicians possess?
Christian Hansen Ph.D.: The soft skills that all graduates should possess include strong communication and teamwork skills regardless of the discipline. Analytical skills will be in high demand, as well as the ability to adapt and learn new technology. Data will continue to play a bigger role in almost any type of business; therefore, the ability to analyze and interpret data for decision making will be increasingly critical. Many jobs in the future are jobs that do not yet exist and as a result, new graduates must have the ability to adapt.
John Russo
Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Computer ScienceLandmark College
STEM Department
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lead Technicians?
John Russo: My sense is that the coronavirus pandemic has had an enduring impact on all of society. Our graduates this year will have missed out on the opportunity to present their senior project to a group and to participate in a poster fair. The pandemic will impact the way that graduates work, in the sense that they will have had to learnt to adapt to a new learning modality fairly quickly. This can be difficult for students who struggle with executive functioning. On the positive side, students have learned to adapt to change quickly. This is a very good skill to have, since working in a technical field often involves managing and dealing with change. Over the span of one's career, there will be much change in programming languages used, technologies, etc. Learning to adapt is something that often takes some time to learn in the workplace. Our graduates this year will have acquired this skill before being employed.
What's a day at work look like for a Lead Technician?
John Russo: Many companies will continue to have employees work remotely. This means that one has to be a self-starter, able to focus and stay on task. Some jobs, such as a network administrator, might not look much different than pre-pandemic. Others, such as software engineer, will be different. Much of the collaboration will take place virtually. One piece that will be missing from the workday for recent graduates is socializing and building a team outside of the boundaries of work.
What technical skills for a Lead Technician stand out to employers?
John Russo: As I mentioned above, the ability to adapt to change. My favorite course is database management systems. I tell my students that the software that we use today likely will not be around for the entire span of their careers. They really need to learn how to quickly work with new technologies, languages and systems. In the span of my career much has changed. I have always found new technologies exciting and refreshing. Employers want to hire graduates who have a set of technical skills in programming languages, database management systems and techniques (such as data mining) but also can learn on the job and be excited to learn new things.
Maria Larrondo Petrie Ph.D.
ProfessorFlorida Atlantic University
Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
What technical skills for a Lead Technician stand out to employers?
Maria Larrondo Petrie Ph.D.: The potential employee needs to be comfortable and flexible to learn different technologies needed to be successful in the virtual work environment. More importantly than the technical schools are the soft skills that give the employee the self-discipline and communications skills to be effective and productive in a virtual work environment. The non-technical major needs to be computer literate and have the mindset to learn new technical skills.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Lead Technicians?
Dr. Semih Dinc: I personally think there may be a positive impact of this pandemic for CS graduates in medium/long term. Even if many companies have frozen or slowed down their hiring process now, I believe this is a temporary decision. There is still a big need for new CS graduates in the industry. And to me it is more clear that people realized they can work remotely for many CS related positions. This means that many companies can cut their physical office budgets and hire more remote people. One of the factors for our students is the challenges/expenses of the city they would work. Some of them do not want to move to big cities. I am assuming with more remote working opportunities graduates will have more options.
What type of skills will young Lead Technicians need?
Dr. Semih Dinc: I may be little biased on this question maybe because of my research field. But I notice a significant demand on machine learning experts in the industry. Today I think a CS graduate should have skills such as machine learning, computer vision, and programming for mobile environments.
What experience really stands out on Lead Technician resumes?
Dr. Semih Dinc: According to my experience, most companies are not looking for "straight A" students. Instead, they look for someone with real world experience in their field. A recent graduate will most likely stand out if he/she has somehow contributed real projects. This can be achieved through internships. For many students, who do not have this option, they can still stand out by sharing their "good" school projects to platforms like GitHub. This way they can show companies that they are aware of these tools, and they will be ready to adopt the new company environment.
What's a good job out of college for Lead Technicians?
Christopher Martinez Ph.D.: The best job you can have out of college is a job you have passion for and will set you up to advance your career. If you have always wanted to work in aerospace, then you should seek out that field from the start. I hate to see students settle for a job because of pay or because they feel they can move to their dream field later.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Lead Technician job market given the pandemic?
Christopher Martinez Ph.D.: I always tell students to practice for an interview by thinking about how they will answer behavior questions such as how to do your work on a team, how you lead a team, how you learn from a failure, etc. This year I would add a new question to this list, and that is how you work remotely. Students should consider how they work with classmates to find a remote work style that works for them. They should explore how to work with Slack or Microsoft Teams to communicate and organize their team. I think we will see that remote work is a trend that will remain with us for the foreseeable future so students should work to become more comfortable with this new work style.