How To Become A Microbiology Soil Scientist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a microbiology soil scientist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Daniel Hirmas

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a microbiology soil scientist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $34.56 an hour? That's $71,895 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 3,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a microbiology soil scientist?

Daniel Hirmas

Professor and B.L. Allen Endowed Chair of Pedology, Texas Tech University

Quantitative skills and computer scripting language skills. Quantitative skills include math and especially statistics. Take as many statistics classes as you can. Develop efficient skills in common scripting languages like Python or R. These are highly sought after skills and are becoming more and more important in soil and environmental science.

ScoreMicrobiology Soil ScientistUS Average

Salary

5.6

Avg. Salary $71,895

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.7

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.5

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.23%

Asian 9.38%

Black or African American 3.66%

Hispanic or Latino 5.95%

Unknown 2.75%

White 78.03%

Gender

female 62.00%

male 38.00%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress level

5.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

10.0

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.1

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a microbiology soil scientist

Explore microbiology soil scientist education requirements

Most common microbiology soil scientist degrees

Bachelor's

68.8 %

Master's

14.6 %

Doctorate

8.3 %

Start to develop specific microbiology soil scientist skills

Skills	Percentages
Laboratory Equipment	22.85%
QC	11.35%
Environmental Monitoring	11.21%
Bacteria	11.05%
PCR	6.48%

Complete relevant microbiology soil scientist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New microbiology soil scientists learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a microbiology soil scientist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real microbiology soil scientist resumes.

Research microbiology soil scientist duties and responsibilities

Execute and analyze tests in areas including chemistry, hematology and bacteriology to aid physicians in diagnosing and treating diseases.
Assist in investigations and CAPA procedures.
Propose, design, implement innovative protocol for forest soil disturbance monitoring that increase efficiency and legal defensibility.

Prepare your microbiology soil scientist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your microbiology soil scientist resume.

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