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Museum technician vs curatorial specialist

The differences between museum technicians and curatorial specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a museum technician and a curatorial specialist. Additionally, a curatorial specialist has an average salary of $43,840, which is higher than the $40,953 average annual salary of a museum technician.

The top three skills for a museum technician include collections database, museum collection and artifact. The most important skills for a curatorial specialist are cataloging, , and .

Museum technician vs curatorial specialist overview

Museum TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Yearly salary$40,953$43,840
Hourly rate$19.69$21.08
Growth rate12%12%
Number of jobs5,69723,992
Job satisfaction3-
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4444
Years of experience44

Museum technician vs curatorial specialist salary

Museum technicians and curatorial specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.

Museum TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Average salary$40,953$43,840
Salary rangeBetween $24,000 And $67,000Between $28,000 And $68,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DC-
Highest paying stateDelaware-
Best paying companySmithsonian Institution-
Best paying industry--

Differences between museum technician and curatorial specialist education

There are a few differences between a museum technician and a curatorial specialist in terms of educational background:

Museum TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 72%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorHistoryAnthropology
Most common collegeHarvard UniversityUniversity of Maryland - College Park

Museum technician vs curatorial specialist demographics

Here are the differences between museum technicians' and curatorial specialists' demographics:

Museum TechnicianCuratorial Specialist
Average age4444
Gender ratioMale, 39.0% Female, 61.0%Male, 30.0% Female, 70.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.3% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.4% Asian, 5.2% White, 76.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%Black or African American, 4.2% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 5.2% Asian, 3.5% White, 81.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2%
LGBT Percentage13%13%

Differences between museum technician and curatorial specialist duties and responsibilities

Museum technician example responsibilities.

  • Assist with planning, designing, and prototyping new exhibits.
  • Prepare daily animal diets and perform cleaning duties to USDA and AZA standards.
  • Perform an array of prototyping, fabrication, assembly, integration, and installation of exhibits.
  • Organize and catalog anthropology, mineral science and paleobiology collections.
  • Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.
  • Create and run excel macros on ceramic artifacts providing statistical analysis data.

Curatorial specialist example responsibilities.

  • Manage user securities, roles, database backups, restore, fail-over management for SQL cluster.
  • Assist in cataloging incoming items for the collection.
  • Supervise student employees responsible for processing and cataloging collections.
  • Conduct research using online federal regulations, review Medicare and Medicaid policy and guidelines to complete an accurate and well-support decision.
  • Facilitate multi-year project digitizing and cataloguing decoration in manuscripts (approx.

Museum technician vs curatorial specialist skills

Common museum technician skills
  • Collections Database, 11%
  • Museum Collection, 11%
  • Artifact, 11%
  • NPS, 9%
  • Pest Management, 8%
  • Cataloging, 8%
Common curatorial specialist skills
  • Cataloging, 100%

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