Surfacing technician vs bench technician

The differences between surfacing technicians and bench 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 surfacing technician and a bench technician. Additionally, a bench technician has an average salary of $41,317, which is higher than the $37,226 average annual salary of a surfacing technician.

The top three skills for a surfacing technician include circuit board assembly, SMT and safety regulations. The most important skills for a bench technician are troubleshoot, PC, and windows.

Surfacing technician vs bench technician overview

	Surfacing Technician	Bench Technician
Yearly salary	$37,226	$41,317
Hourly rate	$17.90	$19.86
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	39,793	79,375
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Associate Degree, 55%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	12	12

Surfacing technician vs bench technician salary

Surfacing technicians and bench technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Surfacing Technician	Bench Technician
Average salary	$37,226	$41,317
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $48,000	Between $29,000 And $57,000
Highest paying City	-	-
Highest paying state	-	-
Best paying company	-	-
Best paying industry	-	-

Differences between surfacing technician and bench technician education

There are a few differences between a surfacing technician and a bench technician in terms of educational background:

	Surfacing Technician	Bench Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Associate Degree, 55%
Most common major	Business	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Northeastern University

Surfacing technician vs bench technician demographics

Here are the differences between surfacing technicians' and bench technicians' demographics:

	Surfacing Technician	Bench Technician
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 75.1% Female, 24.9%	Male, 89.4% Female, 10.6%
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 surfacing technician and bench technician duties and responsibilities

Surfacing technician example responsibilities.

Install and manage windows applications for the user, maintain servers and manage help desk operations.
Full knowledge of VCD machine, stuffing IC's into bare PC boards.
Program and operates AOI machine.
Assemble thru-hole and surface mount PC boards.
Operate under ESD guidelines and according to standard operating procedures.
Build and maintain programs for automatic inspection machines (AOI).

Bench technician example responsibilities.

Lead small teams in the development and installation of residential and commercial electrical and HVAC systems to include smart home systems.
Trouble-shoot and repair all boards to component level using oscilloscopes DMM's and spectrum analyzers.
Place fine pitch IC's and other parts as needed.
Repair pads and trace connectors on modems.
Repair and replace components within all iPhone models.
Experience reworking fine pitch devices and BGA components.

Surfacing technician vs bench technician skills

Common surfacing technician skills

Circuit Board Assembly, 15%
SMT, 14%
Safety Regulations, 8%
IPC, 6%
PCB, 4%
RAN, 4%

Common bench technician skills

Troubleshoot, 13%
PC, 8%
Windows, 6%
Circuit Boards, 6%
Test Equipment, 5%
Component Level Repair, 4%

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Surfacing Technician vs Bench Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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