Prototype technician vs test technician

The differences between prototype technicians and test technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a prototype technician and a test technician. Additionally, a prototype technician has an average salary of $45,071, which is higher than the $43,171 average annual salary of a test technician.

The top three skills for a prototype technician include CAD, hand tools and CNC. The most important skills for a test technician are test procedures, test results, and hand tools.

Prototype technician vs test technician overview

	Prototype Technician	Test Technician
Yearly salary	$45,071	$43,171
Hourly rate	$21.67	$20.76
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	48,310	71,414
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Associate Degree, 45%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	12	12

Prototype technician vs test technician salary

Prototype technicians and test technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Prototype Technician	Test Technician
Average salary	$45,071	$43,171
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $58,000	Between $30,000 And $61,000
Highest paying City	-	Washington, DC
Highest paying state	-	Hawaii
Best paying company	-	Nokia
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between prototype technician and test technician education

There are a few differences between a prototype technician and a test technician in terms of educational background:

	Prototype Technician	Test Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 38%	Associate Degree, 45%
Most common major	Automotive Technology	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Purdue University	Northeastern University

Prototype technician vs test technician demographics

Here are the differences between prototype technicians' and test technicians' demographics:

	Prototype Technician	Test Technician
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 87.3% Female, 12.7%	Male, 83.6% Female, 16.4%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 8.0% White, 70.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%	Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 8.0% White, 70.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	8%	8%

Differences between prototype technician and test technician duties and responsibilities

Prototype technician example responsibilities.

Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Wire and solder all connections to FDA standards.
Finish SLA and SLS parts for mold development.
Experience in reading micrometers, calipers, and blueprints.
Assist purchasing department in outside vendor (PCB fabrication) operations
Use precision measuring tools including calipers, gages, and torques.

Test technician example responsibilities.

Install and manage windows applications for the user, maintain servers and manage help desk operations.
Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Perform in-circuit emulation and boundary scan testing (JTAG).
Perform extensive testing on CVD, PVD, display and solar tooling.
Configure bios to better suit the operating system, motherboard and CPU's needs and requirements.
Use of micrometers, calipers, torque wrenches, rivet and crimping tools, electrical test equipment, drill presses.

Prototype technician vs test technician skills

Common prototype technician skills

CAD, 11%
Hand Tools, 10%
CNC, 7%
Prototyping, 6%
Calipers, 6%
Autoclaves, 6%

Common test technician skills

Test Procedures, 8%
Test Results, 8%
Hand Tools, 7%
Test Data, 5%
RF, 5%
Engineering Drawings, 4%