Surfacing technician vs engineering technician

The differences between surfacing technicians and engineering technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a surfacing technician, becoming an engineering technician takes usually requires 2-4 years. Additionally, an engineering technician has an average salary of $60,273, 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 an engineering technician are technical support, data collection, and test equipment.

Surfacing technician vs engineering technician overview

	Surfacing Technician	Engineering Technician
Yearly salary	$37,226	$60,273
Hourly rate	$17.90	$28.98
Growth rate	-	3%
Number of jobs	39,793	111,343
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age	50	45
Years of experience	12	4

Surfacing technician vs engineering technician salary

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

	Surfacing Technician	Engineering Technician
Average salary	$37,226	$60,273
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $48,000	Between $37,000 And $96,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Washington
Best paying company	-	Western Digital
Best paying industry	-	Technology

Differences between surfacing technician and engineering technician education

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

	Surfacing Technician	Engineering Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common major	Business	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Purdue University

Surfacing technician vs engineering technician demographics

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

	Surfacing Technician	Engineering Technician
Average age	50	45
Gender ratio	Male, 75.1% Female, 24.9%	Male, 85.9% Female, 14.1%
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, 9.5% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 16.7% Asian, 9.2% White, 59.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	8%	6%

Differences between surfacing technician and engineering 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).

Engineering technician example responsibilities.

Used Microsoft SharePoint to manage projects, web base collaboration, alerts and for document management.
Achieve UL certification for thermal overload protection used in motor applications.
Manage equipment database and organize annual equipment calibration require by internal quality control and ISO standards.
Manage and distribute cad standards to contributing design consultants and assist with any design issues as necessary.
Maintain engineering lab equipment: troubleshoot and repair any faulty electronic or mechanical malfunctions, and calibrate test equipment.
Specialize in software and hardware engineering to military standards and project management of DoD contracts.

Surfacing technician vs engineering technician skills

Common surfacing technician skills

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

Common engineering technician skills

Technical Support, 5%
Data Collection, 4%
Test Equipment, 4%
Asphalt, 4%
Construction Projects, 4%
Construction Materials, 4%

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Surfacing Technician
Surfacing Technician vs Engineering Technician

Updated January 8, 2025

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