Chemical Technicians: Job Description, Education, Skills and Duties, Earnings and Outlook
Submitted by: paula
Job OVerview Chemists and Chemical Engineers have a lot of tasks to do in the laboratory of any kind of firm they are employed.For every task, there is usually a need for assistance from a personnel who is in a related field. This role is being played by the chemical technicians. Chemical technicians help and assist chemists and chemical engineers in their activities in the laboratory such as conducting research and experiments, recording and preparing reports for every study. They may also be involved in direct supervision of production workers in the manufacturing and design firms, providing guidance as to the specific processes that must be employed and quality control procedures that must be kept in mind.
Education, Knowledge and Trainings Required
Good preparatory course in high school are those courses that involve mathematics and sciences. Take as many physics, chemistry, mathematics and computer subjects as possible as this may develop your proficiency in the field on chemical engineering and/or technology. For the post secondary training, many two year colleges in the United States offer some chemical technology programs that are designed especially for the aspiring chemical technicians.
Skills and Abilities
There are several sets of traits that are necessary to be excellent in the field of chemical technology. There must be a voluntary desire to use one's mental aptitude and mechanical or manual skills. Patience is a must as experiments may be repetitive and therfore tiring. Being keen to details is needed as they will be assigned to monitor equipment and record observations. A good organizational and communication skills must be possessed more specially in relating with the other professionals and constructing graphs and charts with respective captions of as written presentation of the observations.
Duties
Majority of the chemical technicians are employed in companies in the chemical industries. They are involved in developing, manufacturing or production as well as on testing products such as industrial chemicals, plastics, synthetic fibers, detergents, and even pharmaceutical products.There are many others who work in the construction, aerospace, metal and electronics industries as well as in the different university and government owned laboratories.
Basically, chemical technicians act as the second hand of the chemists and chemical engineers. They take tasks from them and work closely with them. They may be involved in data gathering and doing researches, development and testing chemical and chemical based products. They also assist the head chemists and engineers in setting up laboratory experiments and equipment, monitor the progress as well as record data and relay the results to them. In case of the manufacturing firm employment, technicians may train and supervise production operators and may also operate small scale equipment so as to gauge process parameters.
Earnings and Job Outlook
The salary of a chemical technician is a little lower than that of the chemists and the chemical engineers. The average earnings points to aorund 38,000 U.S. dollars annually. The range of salary starts of from an hourly rate of 18.57 to 27.84 dollars according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The employment opportunities for this job is also expected to grow slower than the average, and more and more competition will come form the 4 year course bachelor degree graduates of chemistry and related fields.
Paula Hiz is a researcher and a human resource specialist who helps newly graduates, job applicants and post graduate professionals be aware of their job opportunities and available trainings for skills and practice upgrading.
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Word Count: 582 Date: Thu, 25 Nov 2010 Time: 6:40 PM
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