Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between technical scientists 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 technical scientist, becoming a certified medical technician takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a technical scientist has an average salary of $90,867, which is higher than the $38,859 average annual salary of a certified medical technician.
The top three skills for a technical scientist include molecular biology, GMP and data analysis. The most important skills for a certified medical technician are patients, vital signs, and CPR.
| Technical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $90,867 | $38,859 |
| Hourly rate | $43.69 | $18.68 |
| Growth rate | 17% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 112,408 | 164,424 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Average age | 41 | 44 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A Technical Scientist is responsible for using established literature on laboratory techniques and basic scientific experimentation to improve processes and products. Their duties include developing solutions for routine and non-routine problems, evaluating workflow progress against objectives, inspect scientific data, and present laboratory results, and contribute to the implementation of new processes within a team. They must ensure compliance with safe working practice, quality standards, and its relevant environment and risk management system workplace guidelines. A Technical Scientist must have advanced knowledge in data analysis tools such as spreadsheets and have well-rounded communication skills for effective presentation to a wide demographic.
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.
Technical scientists and certified medical technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Technical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average salary | $90,867 | $38,859 |
| Salary range | Between $66,000 And $125,000 | Between $28,000 And $53,000 |
| Highest paying City | Novato, CA | Denton, TX |
| Highest paying state | California | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Apple | Favorite Healthcare Staffing |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a technical scientist and a certified medical technician in terms of educational background:
| Technical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 67% | Bachelor's Degree, 28% |
| Most common major | Chemistry | Nursing |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between technical scientists' and certified medical technicians' demographics:
| Technical Scientist | Certified Medical Technician | |
| Average age | 41 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 58.7% Female, 41.3% | Male, 20.4% Female, 79.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.3% Unknown, 4.1% Hispanic or Latino, 9.6% Asian, 26.4% White, 53.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | 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 | 8% | 8% |