A science technician acts as the assistant to scientists in laboratories, providing them with various technical services that can make the scientist’s job easier and more manageable. Science technicians are commonly tasked with duties such as preparing and cleaning equipment, transporting materials around the laboratory, as well as conducting simple evaluations on various materials and submitting the data to scientists who can work with it.
Becoming a science technician usually doesn’t require a degree higher than a high school diploma, though many specific positions have various requirements attached to them, related to the particular company in question – for example, science technicians in a biology laboratory could be required to have some prior knowledge about biology. Additionally, some states require science technicians to be licensed, with the specific licensing process differing from one state to the other, though the practice in general isn’t that common.
A science technician can earn between $28,000 – $53,000 a year in most cases. Even though that’s not a bad salary on its own, it’s still not very high for the science sector, and most science technicians usually take up the job as a temporary employment until they’ve built up sufficient expertise to advance to higher, better paid positions. In this regard, a science technician has a good potential to develop their career further, and the job certainly offers a lot of prospects for career advancement. Many science technicians are able to climb to actual scientific positions in a matter of months after their initial employment.