Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between pharmaceutical scientists 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 pharmaceutical scientist, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a pharmaceutical scientist has an average salary of $79,535, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a pharmaceutical scientist include dosage forms, pharmaceutical sciences and formulation development. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $79,535 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $38.24 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 45,560 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 41 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
Pharmaceutical scientists must have master's degrees or doctorates in pharmacology, chemistry, biology, anatomy, or math. Paid around $86K per year, those who choose this career path perform drug discovery research, development, and testing. They also execute experiments for system-based research projects aimed at introducing new drugs to the marketplace.
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.
Pharmaceutical scientists and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $79,535 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $55,000 And $115,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | South San Francisco, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | BASi | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Pharmaceutical | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a pharmaceutical scientist and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Pharmacy | Nursing |
| Most common college | Duke University | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between pharmaceutical scientists' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Pharmaceutical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 41 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 63.0% Female, 37.0% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.5% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 26.3% White, 53.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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 | 8% | 8% |