How To Become A Principal Technologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a principal technologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Dr. Albert Boerema Ph.D.

As you can probably guess, a principal technologist is someone who works a lot with technology. From improving technological processes to managing in-house Internet services to training coworkers in the latest software, if it involves technology, chances are the task will land on your desk.

As a principal technologist, you could work in a variety of fields. You could work for a software development company, a sophisticated medical office, or a chemicals manufacturer. Sometimes, you may even need to get security clearance to do your job! The specialized knowledge that you need will also depend on the field you work in--some companies want you to be proficient in Linux, others want some experience with Windows servers, and more.

No matter where you work, you need to be highly tech proficient to be a principal technologist. You would probably need a bachelor's or a master's degree in computer science or a related field. It also helps to have several years of experience in a technical field.

What general advice would you give to a principal technologist?

Dr. Albert Boerema Ph.D.

Professor, Calvin University

As one begins a career in educational leadership, the temptation is to pay attention to organizational details, to help things run smoothly, to avoid controversy. My advice is that while those are important, they are not at the center of leading. Instead, there needs to be a focus on issues of equity and justice. It turns out that organizational details do reflect those issues. Still, suppose we do not focus, first of all, on this big picture, getting the "trains to run on time" without thinking about justice. In that case, we will instead wind up maintaining a status quo that privileges some and marginalizes others. The core challenge of leadership is keeping justice at the center.

This is true for all leadership work. In school or educational leadership, it means paying attention to how pedagogical, curricular, and assessment choices provide real opportunities for those on the margins to thrive.

ScorePrincipal TechnologistUS Average

Salary

8.3

Avg. Salary $124,965

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 16%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

1.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.21%

Asian 12.77%

Black or African American 6.67%

Hispanic or Latino 10.01%

Unknown 5.20%

White 65.14%

Gender

female 16.88%

male 83.12%

Age - 47

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 - 47

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.1

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a principal technologist

Explore principal technologist education requirements

Most common principal technologist degrees

Bachelor's

59.3 %

Master's

17.5 %

Associate

13.8 %

Start to develop specific principal technologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	10.36%
Cloud	7.15%
Infrastructure	6.24%
Architecture	6.21%
Project Management	5.36%

Complete relevant principal technologist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New principal technologists 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 principal technologist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real principal technologist resumes.

Research principal technologist duties and responsibilities

Manage the Tru64 UNIX 5.1b, Solaris 2.6, and Solaris 2.8 servers.
Manage client lease information and generate reports using SQL and PHP.
Manage the daily scrum planning meetings and sprint meetings for scrum teams.
Develop checklists management system, to get rid of innumerable Xls files and automate work of QA departments.

Get principal technologist experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a principal technologist. The most common roles before becoming a principal technologist include senior software engineer, technician team lead and consultant.

Prepare your principal technologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your principal technologist 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 principal technologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable principal technologist resume templates

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