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The differences between repair technicians 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 repair technician, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a repair technician has an average salary of $41,643, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a repair technician include customer service, hand tools and customer satisfaction. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Repair Technician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $41,643 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $20.02 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 162,051 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A repair technician's role focuses on assessing the problem or damage of a device and implementing solutions for it to function again. Although the extent of a technician's tasks will depend on the device or industry of employment, most of it revolves around troubleshooting, providing technical support, installing and writing programs, detaching and re-attaching wirings, welding, and even thoroughly discussing problems and solutions to clients. Furthermore, there are instances when a repair technician must work in a team setting that requires coordination and communication.
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.
Repair technicians and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Repair Technician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $41,643 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $27,000 And $63,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | New York, NY | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | Hawaii | Alaska |
| Best paying company | SoCalGas | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Manufacturing | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a repair technician and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Repair Technician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Associate Degree, 38% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Nursing |
| Most common college | - | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between repair technicians' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Repair Technician | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 47 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 88.3% Female, 11.7% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.3% Unknown, 4.3% Hispanic or Latino, 18.3% Asian, 4.6% White, 60.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | 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 | 2% | 8% |