Medical laboratory technician (license, job openings, degrees, average)

[spice&rice]

Hi! everyone

Please give me advice about the medical laboratory technician job.
Do you think I choose study this field for 2 years Degree?
How is job market right now?

Thank you

[angeliclady]

There are other ways to becoming a Medical Laboratory Technician. Some technical schools offer the course for less than 2 years. I'm in a technical school right now and our class is 14 months long. I won't have an Associate's degree, but I will be able to obtain my license and work in the State of Florida and other states also.

I've been told that there will be a shortage of Laboratory Technicians just like there's a shortage of nurses.

The pay for a Technician ranges from $15 to $19/hr depending on what shift you work. A Technologist earns on average $20 to $25. These ranges could be more or less depending on what part of the country you live in. Technologists generally have 4 year degrees, but there are colleges in Florida that you can attend and take the Technologist test with an Associate's degree.

Most Techs work in a hospital or a reference lab (LabCorp, Quest).

The schooling for these positions isn't easy. It takes determination to get through it. Also, you will have graded clinical rotations through each department in a hospital before you can graduate. This also isn't easy. There's an enormous amount of knowledge they expect you to remember so that you can answer their random questions on a subject. It's tough, but also attainable if you really want it and you work hard.

[Braunwyn]

A number of my friends are med techs. They all have four year degrees and there is a niche for them since most hospitals only hire certified med techs.

[ndfmnlf]

Medical lab technicians and medical technologists (also known as clinical lab scientists) are in high demand. The pay (at least for med techs) can range from $50K to $80K annually. It's usually higher in states like California where licensure is required (hence there's a barrier to entry to the field which reduces competition). Check this out clinical lab scientist jobs in Los Angeles, CA - Yahoo! Hotjobs there's tons of job openings for med techs and MLTs in Los Angeles, for example.