How To Become An Occupational Therapy Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is an occupational therapy technician and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an occupational therapy technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $15.41 an hour? That's $32,056 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 25% and produce 11,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreOccupational Therapy TechnicianUS Average

Salary

2.5

Avg. Salary $32,056

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 25%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.76%

Asian 5.20%

Black or African American 8.87%

Hispanic or Latino 8.56%

Unknown 5.81%

White 70.80%

Gender

female 73.90%

male 26.10%

Age - 40

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 - 40

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.5

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an occupational therapy technician

Explore occupational therapy technician education requirements

Most common occupational therapy technician degrees

Bachelor's

57.8 %

Associate

17.9 %

High School Diploma

9.6 %

Start to develop specific occupational therapy technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	36.55%
Physical Therapy	8.71%
Adaptive	7.27%
Vital Signs	5.77%
Occupational Therapy Treatments	5.65%

Complete relevant occupational therapy technician training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New occupational therapy technicians 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 an occupational therapy technician based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real occupational therapy technician resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed occupational therapy technician usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed occupational therapy technician in most of states. 37 states require occupational therapy technicians to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Occupational Therapist Assistant
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant
Arkansas	Specific course required	State exam required	Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA)
California	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant
Colorado	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant

Research occupational therapy technician duties and responsibilities

Administer physical and occupational therapy treatment plans to patients under the direct supervision of a therapist.
Assist therapists with transfers and ADL sessions in acute, ICU, and rehabilitation.
Assist in providing rehabilitative therapy to patients in the rehabilitation, transitional care and outpatient clinics.
Prepare materials for assessments and provide assistance to individuals through hands-on methods and direct contact observations by assisting the rehabilitation supervisor.

Prepare your occupational therapy technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your occupational therapy technician resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an occupational therapy technician resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable occupational therapy technician resume templates

Build a professional occupational therapy technician resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your occupational therapy technician resume.

Apply for occupational therapy technician jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an occupational therapy technician job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do occupational therapy technicians rate their job?

-/5

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Occupational therapy technician reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Cons

I absolutely loved working as a COTA these past seven years but it has been filled with ups and downs. Working at skilled nursing facilities is difficult due to high productivity demands impacting therapist ability to give patient centered care. Now with the new patient driven payment model change to medicare laws, therapists are being laid off left and right. These therapists, like myself, will have the impossible task of trying to find work in the Seattle area - which has been flooded with newly graduated COTAs due to several OTA schools opening in this area. The jobs in pediatrics and at hospitals that are left will see in increase in competition as the displaces/laid off COTAs rush to those jobs.