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What is a Test Technician?

If you've got a natural aptitude in technical applications and you enjoy the first crack at testing new products, you may be well-suited for the role of a test technician. Being a test technician, generally, your primary task is to analyze systems and conduct various performance and production-related tests on equipment and instruments used in the production area of a specific business.


In this position, you may assist the technical teams with recommendations to resolve the testing problems. Evaluating the products, machinery, and equipment malfunctions will be your primary duties. Usually, you may report your findings to engineers, supervisors, product developers, and other technical professionals.


Typically, you may work full-time, but overtime and weekend work may come in some cases to test and identify the recurring problems. Being a test technician, you may work in laboratories, factories, or even offices. The educational requirements for becoming a test technician may vary by employer. However, most employers require test technicians to have an associate's degree or diploma in science or engineering, while some may require a bachelor's degree in engineering or related discipline.


To be successful, you must have a keen eye for detail, the ability to read blueprints, and familiarity to calibrate and repair various testing equipment and tools. Monitoring and performing equipment maintenance, you may earn a median annual wage of $42,000 along with health insurance benefits, retirement coverage, vacation, sick time, and longtime bonuses.

What Does a Test Technician Do

There are certain skills that many test technicians have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed writing skills, observational skills and mechanical skills.

Learn more about what a Test Technician does

How To Become a Test Technician

If you're interested in becoming a test technician, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 34.5% of test technicians have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 3.0% of test technicians have master's degrees. Even though some test technicians have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Test Technician

Test Technician Job Description

A test technician is a technical professional responsible for the assurance of quality in products in factories, places of business, and laboratories. Their duties include conducting safety and quality tests, maintaining lab and manufacturing machinery, and reporting their findings to other staff members.

Learn more about Test Technician Job Description
Top Test Technician Jobs Near You

Career Path For a Test Technician

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a test technician can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as engineering technician, progress to a title such as engineer and then eventually end up with the title project engineering manager.

Test Technician

Average Salary for a Test Technician

Test Technicians in America make an average salary of $43,171 per year or $21 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $61,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $30,000 per year.
Average Test Technician Salary
$43,171 Yearly
$20.76 hourly
See More Salary Information

What Am I Worth?

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Roles and Types of Test Technician

The role of a test technician includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general test technician responsibilities:

  • Conduct tests from detailed test instructions to characterize, verify, or validate the functionality of hardware, software, or systems. Prepare, set up,
  • Manages test schedule and test equipment prepares, installs,
  • Performs operational tests on a wide variety of moderately complex production components, subassemblies

There are several types of test technician, including:

Technician

Role:

To be a technician, you have to know your stuff. Some may refer to you as an expert in your field or maybe people will know you as skilled in an art or craft. Then again, you may just be needed to look after technical equipment.


Your workload as a technician will vary, depending on what you're trained in. You may be needed to set up a new computer system or maybe you'll need to fix an electricity problem. Either way, you'll probably only need to work 40 hours a week.


The degree of education required for this job depends on what you're specific skillset is. Some technicians only need a high school diploma, others may want to complete an associate's program or earn a certificate to help their employment opportunities. There's definitely something for everyone in the field of technicians.

  • Average Salary: $38,045
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Electronics Technician

Role:

Wherever there is electricity, you will find an electronic technician. In places where there is lighting, heating, computers, machinery, or public transport, sooner or later they show up.


Electronic technicians know everything about circuits, amplifiers, resistors, switches, and regulators. They design electronic devices and components, maintain electronic systems, and install electrical equipment.


Choosing to be an electronic technician might be the best decision of your life. Electricity is magic, there is never enough of it. The amount of electricity used in the U.S. alone today is 13 times the quantity needed in 1950, and this tendency is not about to reverse anytime soon.


The average hourly pay of an electric technician is $21.31. You can do the math. If not, you might want to look for another profession, keep browsing those job posts.

  • Average Salary: $46,660
  • Degree: Associate Degree

Engineering Technician

Role:

Equipment, construction and design all have one thing in common. They all need to be inspected and tested by engineering technicians. Once you've done that, then it's time to type up a report of what you analyzed.


Occassionally, you'll be able to help draw up blueprints and plans for products and equipment. If you like coloring inside the lines, this job may be perfect for you. While you won't be coloring inside any lines (probably), you will get to draw very straight lines which can be aesthetically pleasing.


Engineering technicians can usually get by with just a bachelor's degree. That's enough to appease the average employer.

  • Average Salary: $60,273
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Test Technician Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active test technician jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where test technicians earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Test Technician Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California3,541$50,397
2Florida1,965$36,838
3Texas1,917$46,710
4Virginia1,250$46,314
5Illinois1,237$43,063
6New York1,212$47,049
7Massachusetts1,084$48,617
8Georgia1,077$40,792
9North Carolina945$45,487
10Maryland927$47,926
11Colorado904$43,130
12Pennsylvania899$46,246
13Michigan824$45,809
14Ohio803$42,338
15Indiana758$40,510
16Arizona749$48,657
17Washington747$50,411
18New Jersey702$42,900
19Wisconsin678$43,476
20Minnesota661$42,986
21Alabama543$34,278
22Missouri540$39,733
23Connecticut474$45,412
24Iowa472$39,911
25Tennessee470$36,881
26South Carolina459$37,551
27Utah454$32,827
28Oregon380$44,278
29Kentucky380$38,522
30Kansas327$36,336
31Louisiana320$39,741
32Oklahoma280$45,083
33Arkansas261$40,502
34New Mexico238$44,602
35Nevada236$43,471
36Maine209$37,042
37Nebraska206$36,338
38New Hampshire198$43,662
39Mississippi197$43,393
40West Virginia182$46,813
41Delaware168$45,422
42Idaho159$34,132
43Hawaii140$58,561
44Alaska132$41,642
45Montana132$31,503
46Rhode Island131$49,646
47Vermont130$50,186
48North Dakota124$38,920
49South Dakota115$38,847
50Wyoming70$41,835

Test Technician Education

Test Technician Majors

Electrical Engineering
35.2 %
Electrical Engineering Technology
17.8 %
Business
7.7 %

Test Technician Degrees

Associate

45.1 %

Bachelors

34.5 %

High School Diploma

9.3 %

Top Colleges for Test Technicians

1. Northeastern University

Boston, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,522

Enrollment

13,760

2. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$6,798

Enrollment

31,503

3. Purdue University

West Lafayette, IN • Private

In-State Tuition

$9,992

Enrollment

33,495

4. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

Pomona, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$7,353

Enrollment

24,841

5. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-State Tuition

$5,785

Enrollment

7,711

6. Minnesota State University - Mankato

Mankato, MN • Private

In-State Tuition

$8,184

Enrollment

11,675

7. Milwaukee School of Engineering

Milwaukee, WI • Private

In-State Tuition

$40,749

Enrollment

2,582

8. Texas A&M University

College Station, TX • Private

In-State Tuition

$11,870

Enrollment

53,194

9. Western Carolina University

Cullowhee, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$3,926

Enrollment

9,835

10. University of Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$19,080

Enrollment

19,127

Top Skills For a Test Technician

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 8.0% of test technicians listed test procedures on their resume, but soft skills such as writing skills and observational skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Test Technician Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Test Technician templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Test Technician resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

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Test Technician diversity

Test Technician Gender Distribution

Male
Male
84%
Female
Female
16%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among test technicians, 16.4% of them are women, while 83.6% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among test technicians is White, which makes up 70.8% of all test technicians.

  • The most common foreign language among test technicians is Spanish at 49.4%.

Online Courses For Test Technician That You May Like

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Successful developers need to not only build the right software but build it right. To know your software works correctly, you need to test each unit of code. One of the best methods for this unit-level testing is test driven development. This course provides a detailed overview of test driven development (TDD). First, you’ll learn what automated testing is and why it is essential for building robust applications resilient to failure. You’ll explore the basics of testing, including test cases,...

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Best States For a Test Technician

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a test technician. The best states for people in this position are Hawaii, Washington, California, and Vermont. Test technicians make the most in Hawaii with an average salary of $58,561. Whereas in Washington and California, they would average $50,411 and $50,397, respectively. While test technicians would only make an average of $50,186 in Vermont, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. Vermont

Total Test Technician Jobs: 130
Highest 10% Earn:
$70,000
Location Quotient:
1.55

$50,186

Avg. Salary

View 130 Test Technician Jobs In VT

2. Hawaii

Total Test Technician Jobs: 140
Highest 10% Earn:
$75,000
Location Quotient:
1.53

$58,561

Avg. Salary

View 140 Test Technician Jobs In HI

3. Arizona

Total Test Technician Jobs: 749
Highest 10% Earn:
$72,000
Location Quotient:
1.17

$48,657

Avg. Salary

View 749 Test Technician Jobs In AZ
Full List Of Best States For Test Technicians

How Do Test Technicians Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Test Technician Employers

Most Common Employers For Test Technician

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1IBM$79,599$38.27109
2Solectron Corp$70,279$33.79230
3Intel$59,082$28.4065
4Motorola Solutions$56,706$27.2693
5Lockheed Martin$52,890$25.4365
6Boeing$51,761$24.8991
7Raytheon Technologies$51,526$24.7759
8General Dynamics$50,968$24.5045
9Qualcomm$48,075$23.1195
10Hewlett Packard Enterprise$47,300$22.74159
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Test Technician Videos

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Becoming a Test Technician FAQs

How Many Years Do You Have To Study To Be A Technician?

You have to study for one to two years to become a technician. In some cases, you can become a technician with just a high school diploma and job training. You will need to have a vocational or technical certification for other technician jobs, which can take up to 2 years to complete.

What Are The Qualifications Of Technicians?

The qualifications of technicians are typically an associate's degree or technical certification. Most companies, for example, require test technicians to possess at least an associate's degree in an engineering or scientific field.

What Does An Electrical Test Technician Do?

An electrical test technician ensures that electrical power systems are in proper working order and ready to be energized. This means they do periodic tests on equipment already in service to help prolong service life and indicate whether corrective maintenance or replacement is necessary.

What Qualifications Do You Need To Be A Technician?

The qualifications needed to become a technician are, at minimum, a high school diploma or equivalent and certification. Additional education and experience may be required and are typically desirable.

Have more questions? See all answers to common architecture and engineering questions.

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Updated April 6, 2023