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The differences between principal test engineers 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 principal test engineer, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a principal test engineer has an average salary of $116,493, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a principal test engineer include python, C++ and java. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Principal Test Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $116,493 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $56.01 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 3% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 96,539 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
Principal Test Engineers test automation tools and frameworks like Selenium, Appium, and Ranorex. They make sure that the software their companies offer is safe and reliable for consumer use. Being a principal test engineer requires testing to influence better software design, promoting good engineering practice, security, testability, scalability, drafting bug prevention strategies, and reliability. They are responsible for defining test goals, preparing and executing system-level functional tests, providing new project forecasts based on the provided information, and improving the current test solutions by reducing the test time, repeat tests, and yield analysis.
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.
Principal test engineers and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Principal Test Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $116,493 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $159,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Microsoft | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a principal test engineer and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Principal Test Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Nursing |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between principal test engineers' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Principal Test Engineer | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 89.8% Female, 10.2% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.2% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 8.8% Asian, 12.0% White, 67.7% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.5% | 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 | 11% | 8% |