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Technical instructor vs adjunct faculty

The differences between technical instructors and adjunct faculties can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a technical instructor and an adjunct faculty. Additionally, an adjunct faculty has an average salary of $83,069, which is higher than the $68,086 average annual salary of a technical instructor.

The top three skills for a technical instructor include kids, professional development and curriculum development. The most important skills for an adjunct faculty are student learning, syllabus, and philosophy.

Technical instructor vs adjunct faculty overview

Technical InstructorAdjunct Faculty
Yearly salary$68,086$83,069
Hourly rate$32.73$39.94
Growth rate2%2%
Number of jobs103,39926,791
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

What does a technical instructor do?

Technical instructor or trainer assists the training managers in educating and training technical employees to become competent and technically skilled workers. This job requires strong verbal communication, good teaching skills, and the ability to inspire and motivate learners since it involves skills assessments to track the progress of trainees individually. Also, a technical instructor regularly attends educational workshops and reviews publications to maintain his/her /her technical knowledge and quality service and to be able to design computer training manuals more effectively.

What does an adjunct faculty do?

Adjunct faculty is the collective term for adjunct professors or lecturers. The adjunct faculty teaches students based on the limited-term of their contract. Oftentimes, they teach preparatory or introductory courses by semester arrangement for the entire academic year. Most of them are employed in higher education. Unlike regular professors, adjunct faculty do not have benefits and are not required to be present in meetings. They can work as either a contract professor or a part-time professor.

Technical instructor vs adjunct faculty salary

Technical instructors and adjunct faculties have different pay scales, as shown below.

Technical InstructorAdjunct Faculty
Average salary$68,086$83,069
Salary rangeBetween $43,000 And $106,000Between $45,000 And $152,000
Highest paying CityBerkeley, CASan Francisco, CA
Highest paying stateAlaskaCalifornia
Best paying companyPace UniversityHca Hospital Services Of San Diego
Best paying industryEnergyGovernment

Differences between technical instructor and adjunct faculty education

There are a few differences between a technical instructor and an adjunct faculty in terms of educational background:

Technical InstructorAdjunct Faculty
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 57%Bachelor's Degree, 48%
Most common majorBusinessNursing
Most common collegeUniversity of PennsylvaniaUniversity of Pennsylvania

Technical instructor vs adjunct faculty demographics

Here are the differences between technical instructors' and adjunct faculties' demographics:

Technical InstructorAdjunct Faculty
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 68.2% Female, 31.8%Male, 40.9% Female, 59.1%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 7.3% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 10.4% Asian, 11.2% White, 65.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 7.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 10.3% Asian, 11.2% White, 66.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage16%16%

Differences between technical instructor and adjunct faculty duties and responsibilities

Technical instructor example responsibilities.

  • Manage bank deposits, employee and vendor payments, invoices and receipts, and keep quickbooks update.
  • Manage a host multi-server Linux operating environment in support of those systems.
  • Create a quality learning environment where kids can thrive and advance their knowledge.
  • Establish advanced high school computer classes such as desktop publishing, computer applications.
  • Solve and troubleshoot problems relate to desktop computers, laptops and different types of computers.
  • Develop training materials with PowerPoint.
  • Show more

Adjunct faculty example responsibilities.

  • Lead early childhood program initiatives.
  • Provide detail academic instruction for college students in anatomy & physiology, and medical terminology.
  • Prepare lectures, in-class exercises, and collect entirely new course materials to create a personalize syllabus
  • Inform students about course requirements, evaluation procedures, attendance and participation requirements in a course syllabus.
  • Facilitate teaching of online humanities course examining relationship between philosophy and ethics including issues relating to morality.
  • Provide instruction in accounting, economics, federal taxation, management, personnel and small business management.
  • Show more

Technical instructor vs adjunct faculty skills

Common technical instructor skills
  • Kids, 14%
  • Professional Development, 11%
  • Curriculum Development, 4%
  • Technical Training, 4%
  • Course Content, 3%
  • PowerPoint, 3%
Common adjunct faculty skills
  • Student Learning, 11%
  • Syllabus, 8%
  • Philosophy, 7%
  • Professional Development, 6%
  • Course Syllabus, 5%
  • Course Content, 5%

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