Surfacing technician vs test technician

The differences between surfacing 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 surfacing technician and a test technician. Additionally, a test technician has an average salary of $43,171, 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 test technician are test procedures, test results, and hand tools.

Surfacing technician vs test technician overview

	Surfacing Technician	Test Technician
Yearly salary	$37,226	$43,171
Hourly rate	$17.90	$20.76
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	39,793	71,414
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Associate Degree, 45%
Average age	50	50
Years of experience	12	12

Surfacing technician vs test technician salary

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

	Surfacing Technician	Test Technician
Average salary	$37,226	$43,171
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $48,000	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 surfacing technician and test technician education

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

	Surfacing Technician	Test Technician
Most common degree	Associate Degree, 37%	Associate Degree, 45%
Most common major	Business	Electrical Engineering
Most common college	Stanford University	Northeastern University

Surfacing technician vs test technician demographics

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

	Surfacing Technician	Test Technician
Average age	50	50
Gender ratio	Male, 75.1% Female, 24.9%	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 surfacing technician and test 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).

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.

Surfacing technician vs test technician skills

Common surfacing technician skills

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

Common test technician skills

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