How To Become A Pharmaceutical Technician: What It Is and Career Path

What is a pharmaceutical 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 a pharmaceutical technician. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.47 an hour? That's $40,500 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 22,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScorePharmaceutical TechnicianUS Average

Salary

3.2

Avg. Salary $40,500

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.5

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.80%

Asian 10.11%

Black or African American 8.65%

Hispanic or Latino 14.49%

Unknown 5.72%

White 60.23%

Gender

female 50.54%

male 49.46%

Age - 36

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 - 36

Stress level

8.5

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

8.0

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a pharmaceutical technician

Explore pharmaceutical technician education requirements

Most common pharmaceutical technician degrees

Bachelor's

45.1 %

Associate

23.3 %

High School Diploma

19.0 %

Start to develop specific pharmaceutical technician skills

Skills	Percentages
Patients	29.93%
GMP	11.94%
FDA	10.94%
Pallets	7.63%
DEA	7.07%

Complete relevant pharmaceutical technician training and internships

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

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed pharmaceutical technician usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed pharmaceutical technician in most of states. 38 states require pharmaceutical technicians to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Pharmacist Technician
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Pharmacist
Arkansas	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Pharmacist
California	Degree required	Both state and third-party exams required	Pharmacist, Registered
Connecticut	Degree required	State exam required	Pharmacist

Research pharmaceutical technician duties and responsibilities

Attain certification on electric pallet jack.
Complete and achieve HIPPA training certification in patient confidentiality.
Manage assigned pharmacy workstations and tasks while supporting team members in promptly, safely and accurately filling patient prescriptions.
Open and run reclaim on the line.

Prepare your pharmaceutical technician resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your pharmaceutical 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 a pharmaceutical 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 pharmaceutical technician resume templates

Build a professional pharmaceutical 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 pharmaceutical technician resume.