How To Become A Ventilator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a ventilator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a ventilator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.48 an hour? That's $61,321 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 14% and produce 18,400 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreVentilatorUS Average

Salary

4.8

Avg. Salary $61,321

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.88%

Asian 8.34%

Black or African American 11.40%

Hispanic or Latino 17.57%

Unknown 4.28%

White 57.53%

Gender

female 64.29%

male 35.71%

Age - 44

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 44

Key steps to become a ventilator

Explore ventilator education requirements

Most common ventilator degrees

Associate

55.9 %

Bachelor's

29.4 %

Master's

7.1 %

Start to develop specific ventilator skills

Skills	Percentages
Respiratory Care	12.20%
Patients	11.65%
Pediatrics	10.61%
BLS	5.52%
EKG	5.49%

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed ventilator usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed ventilator in most of states. 41 states require ventilators to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Respiratory Therapist
Arkansas	Degree required	State exam required	Respiratory Therapist
California	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Respiratory Care Practitioner
Colorado	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Respiratory Therapist
Connecticut	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Respiratory Care Practitioner

Research ventilator duties and responsibilities

Manage artificial airways, mechanically ventilate patients, pulmonary rehab patients and perform CPR in code situations.
Provide emergency care, including artificial respiration and assistance with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Perform ABG's and maintain the IRMA ABG machine.
Care, suctioning, bronchial hygiene therapy and nebulizer treatment.

Prepare your ventilator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your ventilator resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a ventilator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable ventilator resume templates

Build a professional ventilator resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your ventilator resume.