A lab technician is a professional who helps in conducting various tests used to detect, diagnose, and treat diseases, or is required to operate lab equipment as per the instructions given by the lab manager or the doctor. Before becoming a professional lab technician, aspirants are required to go through a lab technician training program, tuned to their particular areas of interests.
There is a big demand of lab technicians in the medical industry, and therefore medical lab technician training is experiencing continuous growth in the number of enrolled students. Training is generally imparted in community colleges, but on-the-job training is also an option. Additionally, there are various online schools that offer a lab technician certification.
There are practically many industries in which a lab technician can find himself working in, ranging from medical, dental and optical to chemical processing labs. A variety of general skills are taught in a lab technician training; techniques in procession, handling various equipment, lab safety and lab report writing are to name a few. Additionally, other fields include crime lab technician study and environmental lab technician study.
Furthermore, people can opt to pursue lab technician training in a particular area of interest. For example, optical lab technicians are trained to create eye-glasses based on specific ophthalmic directions. Coursework includes ophthalmic optics, eye anatomy and optical lab techniques. Similarly a dental lab technician is trained in working with dental equipment and teeth anatomy.
The job of a lab technician is detail and result oriented. So before plunging in to train as a lab professional, make yourself sure that you have a keen eye for detail, as there is almost negligible room for error. The length of such training depends upon the type of training being undertaken, and generally one to two years in length. There is no lack of schools and community college where an aspirant can enroll part-time and complete his or her training.
Technically, a bachelor’s degree is not a prerequisite to becoming a lab technician, but statistics show that professionals who have an engineering degree are automatically preferred over others. Salary of a certified lab technician, on an average is around $25,000 per year, according to 2008 stats. Technicians who have a high percentile can earn significantly greater than that. There is no dearth of jobs for educated and certified lab technicians. If you have the skills and aptitude, then you should definitely go for a lab technician training.