How much does an engineering technologists and technicians make?

The median engineering technologists and technicians salary in the United States is $78,350 per year ($37.67/hour). Salaries range from $47,030 (10th percentile) to $118,330 (90th percentile). There are 59,930 engineering technologists and technicians jobs in the U.S. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics OEWS.

Which state pays engineering technologists and technicianss the most?

The highest paying state for engineering technologists and technicianss is Maine at $107,060 median salary.

Is engineering technologists and technicians a good career?

Engineering Technologists and Technicians employment is projected to grow 1.5% from 2024 to 2034 (slower than average). There are approximately 5,700 job openings per year. Typical education required: Associate's degree.

What interview questions are asked for engineering technologists and technicians roles?

Common engineering technologists and technicians interview questions include: "Walk me through your last test-station commissioning for a new-product development program.", "The test station is producing anomalous data — the design engineer says the device-under-test is fine but the DAQ is off. Walk me through what you do.", "Describe a difficult test-anomaly you resolved.". Interview format at top employers ranges from behavioral panels (STAR method) to technical case rounds — for example Defense Prime Contractors (Boeing Defense / Space / Security, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies / RTX, General Dynamics, L3Harris, BAE Systems) typically uses 4-6 rounds over 6-12 weeks (security-clearance transfer adds time).

What is the career ladder for engineering technologists and technicianss?

The typical engineering technologists and technicians career ladder: Engineering Tech I / Test Tech I / Cal Tech I / BMET I (0-3 yrs, $52-68k salaried + shift diff at some employers + benefits + 401(k) match) → Engineering Tech II / III / Sr Test Tech (3-8 yrs, $72-98k salaried + $6-12k bonus + LTIP at Fortune-500 + full benefits) → Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET / Sr Cal Tech (6-13 yrs, $88-125k salaried + 8-12% bonus + LTIP + $10-20k RSU refresh + full benefits at Fortune-500) → Lead Engineering Tech / Test Engineering Lead / Principal Engineering Tech (12-20 yrs, $115-165k salaried + 12-15% bonus + LTIP + $25-45k RSU refresh + full executive-adjacent benefits).

What certifications should engineering technologists and technicianss get?

Top-ROI certifications for engineering technologists and technicianss: ABET-accredited BS in Engineering Technology (BET / MET / EET / MechET / BiomedET) ($45-95k program cost; Section-127 tuition subsidy + employer top-up standard at Fortune-500 employers; 4 years full-time or 5-6 years part-time online); FE-EIT (Fundamentals of Engineering / Engineer-in-Training) via NCEES ($175 exam + $250-750 prep material; 40-100 hr study; Section-127 covered at Fortune-500 employers); NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies) Level I → II → III → IV in the relevant discipline (Level I $115-155; Level II $195-240; Level III $295-360; Level IV $355-395; typically employer-paid).

How do you negotiate a engineering technologists and technicians salary?

Anchor on documented market data (BLS median $78,350, p75 $99,310), specific outcomes you've delivered, and the specific band for your years of experience. Given 9 years across Test Tech I, II, and Sr Test Tech at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control — ABET-accredited BS Electrical Engineering Technology (RIT, magna cum laude), FE-EIT (2019), NICET Level III Electrica...

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Salary

Bureau of Labor Statistics title: Engineering Technologists and Technicians, Except Drafters, All Other

The median engineering technologists and technicians salary in the United States is $78,350 per year ($37.67/hour). Salaries range from $47,030 at the entry level to $118,330+ for the top 10% of earners. There are 59,930 engineering technologists and technicians jobs nationwide. Employment is projected to grow 1.5% through 2034.

Last updated: June 2026 · Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Median Salary

$78,350

per year

Hourly Rate

$37.67

per hour

Employment

59,930

jobs in the U.S.

Salary Distribution

10th percentile

$47,030

25th percentile

$60,390

Median

$78,350

75th percentile

$99,310

90th percentile

$118,330

Job Growth (2024-2034)

+1.5%

Slower than average

Annual Openings

5,700

jobs/year (growth + replacements)

Education Required

Associate's degree

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Career Guide

Interview questions, resume templates, and a career ladder written specifically for engineering technologists and technicianss.

Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other (BLS SOC 17-3029) is the residual BLS category for engineering-technology roles that don't fit the named SOC codes for civil, electrical, mechanical, industrial, aerospace, or environmental engineering technicians. It captures a portfolio of cross-disciplinary tech seats — mechatronics technicians, robotics technicians, manufacturing engineering technicians, biomedical engineering technicians (BMET), environmental engineering technicians, quality engineering technicians, calibration technicians, test engineering technicians, and process engineering technicians in specialty domains (semiconductor, additive manufacturing, autonomous vehicles). Typical seats: Boeing (avionics + robotics + manufacturing test), Lockheed Martin (mechatronics + guidance systems + integration test), Northrop Grumman (autonomous systems + robotics), Raytheon Technologies / RTX (radar + guidance system test), GE Aerospace (turbine test + engineering test), Honeywell (industrial-automation test + calibration), Emerson (process-automation test), Rockwell Automation (automation + robotics + control-system test), Siemens Industry, John Deere (autonomous farming systems), Caterpillar (autonomous mining + heavy-equipment test), medical-device manufacturers (Medtronic, Stryker, Boston Scientific, GE Healthcare, Philips Healthcare, Abbott — BMET seats), semiconductor equipment makers (Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, ASML). BLS reports 59,930 employed with a median of $78,350, p10 $47,730, p90 $122,760+. Entry Engineering Tech I $52-68k; established Engineering Tech II / III $72-98k; Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET $88-125k+; Lead Engineering Tech / Test Engineering Lead / Sr BMET Lead $115-160k+; Principal Engineering Tech / Sr Lab Manager $145-215k+. The single biggest earnings lever is stacking an ABET-accredited BET (Bachelor of Engineering Technology) or MET (Mechanical Engineering Technology) degree, NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies) certification in the relevant discipline, and an FE-EIT (Fundamentals of Engineering / Engineer-in-Training) exam completion — the FE-EIT is the on-ramp to Professional Engineer (PE) licensure for lateral movement into the engineering ladder at a Fortune-500 or defense-industrial-base employer.

Core Skills Hiring Managers Screen For

Cross-disciplinary engineering-technology fluency (ABET-accredited BET or MET foundation)

The residual category rewards depth in one specialty and workable fluency in adjacent disciplines — a mechatronics tech reads mechanical drawings, electrical schematics, PLC ladder logic, and pneumatic / hydraulic system diagrams; a robotics tech does the same plus servo-motion tuning and vision-system integration; a BMET does the same on medical devices plus IEC 60601 / IEC 62366 medical-device standards. ABET-accredited BET (Bachelor of Engineering Technology) or MET (Mechanical Engineering Technology) degree — programs at Purdue, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Penn State, Texas A&M, Ferris State, University of Cincinnati, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Wentworth Institute — provide the technical foundation and are the recognized US credential for engineering-technology promotion to Sr and Lead seats.

Test and measurement instrumentation + calibration

Bench instrumentation — Keysight / Agilent / Tektronix / Fluke oscilloscopes (500 MHz - 20 GHz depending on application), signal generators, spectrum analyzers, network analyzers, DMMs with 6.5-8.5 digit resolution. Data acquisition — National Instruments PXI + LabVIEW + TestStand; VXI-based systems at defense-industrial-base; SCPI-command instrument control. Calibration discipline — traceable to NIST via ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 or ISO/IEC 17025 for accredited calibration labs. Uncertainty budget calculation per JCGM 100 (GUM — Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement). Calibration-interval determination per NCSLI RP-1. NICET certification in the relevant discipline (electrical + mechanical + fire protection tracks).

Robotics + mechatronics + automation integration

Industrial robot programming — Fanuc, ABB, Kuka, Yaskawa, Universal Robots on their native teach-pendant + offline programming environments (RoboGuide, RobotStudio, KUKA.Sim, MotoSim, Polyscope). Collaborative robot (cobot) integration on Universal Robots UR3/5/10/16 with Robotiq end-effectors + safety-rated stop discipline per ISO 10218-1 / ISO 10218-2 / ISO/TS 15066. Motion-control on servo drives (Rockwell Kinetix, Siemens SINAMICS, Yaskawa Sigma-5/7, Bosch Rexroth IndraDrive) with cam profile + electronic-gearing configuration. Vision integration — Cognex In-Sight + VisionPro, Keyence CV / IV / CA series, Basler / IDS cameras via GigE Vision + USB3 Vision protocols. PLC + safety-PLC integration on Rockwell GuardLogix, Siemens F-series, Pilz PSS.

Medical-device + biomedical technology (BMET seats)

Medical-device standards — IEC 60601-1 (general safety and essential performance), IEC 60601-1-2 (EMC), IEC 60601-1-6 (usability engineering per IEC 62366-1), IEC 60601-1-8 (alarms), IEC 60601-1-9 (environmentally conscious design), plus collateral standards for specific device categories. FDA CDRH 510(k) + PMA pathways awareness; 21 CFR Part 820 Quality System Regulation; 21 CFR Part 11 electronic records / electronic signatures for connected medical devices. IEC 62304 medical device software lifecycle (Class A / B / C). ISO 13485 medical device quality management. BMET certification via AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) — CBET (Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician), CRES (Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist), CLES (Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist).

Environmental engineering technology (waste + air + water + remediation)

Air-quality monitoring — Method 1-30 stack testing per 40 CFR Part 60 / Part 61; continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) with instrument calibration + QA/QC per 40 CFR Part 60 Appendix F; ambient air-monitoring with reference-method + equivalent-method analyzers. Water-quality — 40 CFR Part 136 wastewater analytical methods; Clean Water Act NPDES permit-support sampling. Hazardous-waste — RCRA 40 CFR Parts 260-265 characterization sampling; TSCA § 6 lead + asbestos abatement support (AHERA certifications for asbestos); OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1101 asbestos worker training. Site remediation — CERCLA / Superfund site characterization sampling under EPA SW-846; monitoring-well installation coordination; NAPL (non-aqueous phase liquid) recovery-system operator support.

Autonomous systems + sensor fusion + machine-learning integration

Autonomous vehicle + agricultural / mining automation systems — LiDAR (Velodyne / Ouster / Hesai / Innoviz solid-state units), RADAR (Continental ARS, Bosch, Delphi/Aptiv), camera (mono + stereo), IMU (VectorNav / Xsens / Northrop LN-200 tactical-grade). Sensor-fusion frameworks — Kalman filter tuning, EKF (extended) + UKF (unscented) + particle filter awareness; ROS (Robot Operating System) + ROS2 + Autoware for open-source autonomy stacks. Machine-learning integration on-device — NVIDIA Jetson, Xilinx / AMD FPGA for edge inference; ONNX runtime deployment; TensorFlow Lite / PyTorch Mobile for edge deployment. Test-scenario execution on closed-course + digital-twin (CARLA, LGSVL) test frameworks. This is the highest-growth specialty in the residual category as of 2024-2025.

GD&T (Geometric Dimensioning and Tolerancing) + Metrology + Inspection

ASME Y14.5-2018 GD&T fluency — flatness, straightness, circularity, cylindricity, parallelism, perpendicularity, angularity, position, concentricity, symmetry, profile-of-line, profile-of-surface, runout, total-runout, MMC / LMC / RFS modifiers, datum reference frames. CMM (coordinate-measuring-machine) operation — Zeiss, Hexagon (Sheffield / Brown & Sharpe / Leitz), Mitutoyo, Nikon with PC-DMIS + Calypso + MODUS software packages. Optical + laser measurement — Keyence LK-G / IL series, Micro-Epsilon optoNCDT, Faro Vantage laser trackers, ScanArm portable scanners. Inspection-plan authoring per ASME Y14.45 (Measurement Data Reporting). MSA (Measurement System Analysis) — Gage R&R studies per AIAG MSA methodology; automotive Cpk / Ppk drive per IATF 16949 Annex C.

Documentation, technical writing, and reliability partnership

Test-report authoring per company-specific template + industry-standard structure (IEEE 829 for software test documentation; MIL-HDBK-505 for defense-industrial-base test-plan authoring; ISO 17025 for accredited calibration reports). ECN / ECO (engineering change notice / order) drafting per company PLM (product lifecycle management) system — Siemens Teamcenter, PTC Windchill, Dassault ENOVIA, Aras Innovator, SAP PLM. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) — design FMEA + process FMEA per AIAG FMEA-4 or SAE J1739. Reliability partnership — support MTBF / MTBR / MTTR analysis, Weibull-plot life-testing analysis, HALT / HASS (Highly Accelerated Life Test / Stress Screen) test execution.

How to Become a Engineering Technologists and Technicians

1
Complete an ABET-accredited BET / MET / EET / MechET associate degree or bachelor's degree
AAS (Associate of Applied Science) in Engineering Technology at community-college level — Ivy Tech, Cuyahoga CC, Cincinnati State, Delta College, Penn College of Technology, Ferris State — is the entry credential and adds $8-15k at entry over HS + certificate paths. Bachelor's in Engineering Technology (BET / MET / EET / MechET) at Purdue, Rochester Institute of Technology, Penn State (all campuses), Texas A&M, University of Cincinnati, Ferris State, Wentworth, UMass Lowell, University of Toledo is the credential for advancement to Sr Engineering Tech and above; adds $18-35k at Sr Engineering Tech promotion at Fortune-500 employers. Both AAS and BS programs are ABET-accredited under the ETAC (Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission).
2
Start as Engineering Tech I / Test Tech I / Cal Tech I / BMET I at $52-68k + benefits
First seat at Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon Technologies, GE Aerospace, GE Healthcare, Honeywell, Emerson, Rockwell Automation, Siemens Industry, John Deere, Caterpillar, Medtronic, Stryker, Boston Scientific, Philips Healthcare, Abbott, Applied Materials, Lam Research, KLA, ASML. First 12-24 months focused on assisting engineers on test execution, data acquisition, calibration support, and documentation under supervision. Some seats are 8-hr day-shift (defense-industrial-base R&D labs, biomedical hospitals); others are 12-hr rotating shifts (semiconductor fabs, automotive manufacturing test).
3
Complete FE-EIT (Fundamentals of Engineering / Engineer-in-Training) exam
The FE exam via NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) is the on-ramp to PE licensure for lateral movement to the engineering ladder. FE is offered in 7 disciplines — Chemical, Civil, Electrical & Computer, Environmental, Industrial & Systems, Mechanical, Other Disciplines. $175 exam fee + $250-750 prep material. Approximately 60-70% first-attempt pass rate. Passing the FE grants EIT (Engineer-in-Training) designation and starts the 4-year work-experience clock toward PE licensure. Especially valuable for Sr Engineering Tech promotion at defense-industrial-base employers where PE-track candidates command a premium.
4
Layer on NICET certification in the relevant discipline
NICET (National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies) — Level I → Level II → Level III → Level IV in fire alarm systems, sprinkler systems, water-based fire protection, security systems, industrial-instrumentation, electrical-power-testing, video-surveillance, and other specialties. NICET Level II is the entry-Journeyman engineering-technology credential; Level III / IV are the Sr / Lead credentials. $115-395 per exam depending on level; typically employer-paid at Fortune-500 employers.
5
Advance to Engineering Tech II / III at $72-98k + shift diff + LTIP
3-6 years in seat. Own end-to-end test-execution responsibility on assigned systems — test-plan interpretation, test-station setup, instrument calibration, data acquisition, initial data analysis, test-report authoring. Coordinate with the design engineer on test-scope questions and anomaly investigation. Some plants call this seat Sr Test Tech or Sr Engineering Tech depending on the internal hierarchy.
6
Complete AAMI CBET (Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician) or specialty certification
AAMI (Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation) CBET — the recognized US biomedical engineering technology credential; $370 member exam + $200-500 prep material; 60-90 hr study. AAMI CRES (Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist) and CLES (Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist) for imaging and lab-equipment specialists. Six Sigma Green Belt / Black Belt via ASQ or employer program. SPC (Statistical Process Control) certification via ASQ. Other specialty credentials — ISA (International Society of Automation) CAP (Certified Automation Professional), CCST (Certified Control Systems Technician) Level I/II/III at $600-1,200 per exam.
7
Advance to Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET at $88-125k + LTIP + benefits
6-12 years in seat. Own the test-engineering technology stack for a product line or system — test-plan authoring support, test-station design coordination, data-acquisition-system architecture. Direct partnership with the engineering team on new-product development test scope, test-station commissioning, and test-report standardization. This is the seat where FE-EIT + AAMI CBET + NICET Level III / IV + Six Sigma Green Belt becomes the promotion criterion for Lead advancement.
8
Advance to Lead Engineering Tech / Test Engineering Lead / Principal Engineering Tech at $115-215k+ base + bonus + LTIP + RSU
12-22 years in seat. Own the test / lab / calibration / BMET function for a business unit or product family. Direct-manage 4-12 Engineering Techs and Sr Engineering Techs. Own the test / lab capital-budget, tooling / instrumentation refresh planning, and ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation ownership where the lab is accredited. Some employers layer this seat as Principal Engineering Tech (IC track) vs Test Engineering Manager (people-management track) with the same base pay but different scope. Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base and Fortune-100 medical-device employers pay this seat over $155k + LTIP + RSU refresh.

Career Progression

Engineering Tech I / Test Tech I / Cal Tech I / BMET I

0-3 yrs$52-68k salaried + shift diff at some employers + benefits + 401(k) match

•Assist engineers on test execution, data acquisition, calibration support, and documentation
•Complete plant / lab-specific safety training — LOTO, NFPA 70E, ESD (electrostatic discharge), cleanroom protocols, medical-device handling
•Own basic test-station setup, instrument connection, and data-file collection with engineer supervision
•Complete AAS in Engineering Technology if not already held; begin BS in Engineering Technology if BS track is the goal

Next: Engineering Tech II / III at 3-6 years with ABET-accredited BET / MET degree + FE-EIT.

Engineering Tech II / III / Sr Test Tech

3-8 yrs$72-98k salaried + $6-12k bonus + LTIP at Fortune-500 + full benefits

•Own end-to-end test-execution responsibility on assigned systems — test-plan interpretation, station setup, calibration, data acquisition, analysis, report
•Coordinate with design engineers on test-scope questions and anomaly investigation
•Support test-station commissioning for new-product development programs
•Own instrument-calibration cycle for assigned bench instrumentation per ISO 17025 or ANSI/NCSL Z540.3

Next: Sr Engineering Tech at 6-12 years with FE-EIT + NICET Level III / IV + specialty certification.

Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET / Sr Cal Tech

6-13 yrs$88-125k salaried + 8-12% bonus + LTIP + $10-20k RSU refresh + full benefits at Fortune-500

•Own the test-engineering technology stack for a product line or system — test-plan authoring support, station design coordination, DAQ architecture
•Direct partnership with the engineering team on new-product development test scope + commissioning + report standardization
•Mentor Engineering Tech II / III and lead the technology-transfer for new test stations
•Own MSA (Gage R&R) studies + FMEA + reliability-partnership analysis where applicable

Next: Lead Engineering Tech / Test Engineering Lead / Principal Engineering Tech at 12-22 years.

Lead Engineering Tech / Test Engineering Lead / Principal Engineering Tech

12-20 yrs$115-165k salaried + 12-15% bonus + LTIP + $25-45k RSU refresh + full executive-adjacent benefits

•Own the test / lab / calibration / BMET function for a business unit or product family
•Direct-manage 4-12 Engineering Techs and Sr Engineering Techs on the IC-manager or Principal-Engineering-Tech track
•Own the test / lab capital-budget ($1-8M annually), tooling / instrumentation refresh planning
•Own ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation where the lab is accredited; coordinate with A2LA / ANAB / NABL assessors

Next: Sr Lab Manager / Test Engineering Manager / Principal Engineering Tech at 18-28 years.

Sr Lab Manager / Test Engineering Manager / Principal Engineering Tech (Distinguished IC)

18-28 yrs$145-215k+ salaried + 15-20% bonus + LTIP + $45-85k RSU refresh + full executive-adjacent benefits

•Own the test / lab / calibration / BMET function for a division or a full site at Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base or medical-device employer
•Direct-manage 10-30 Engineering Techs, Sr Engineering Techs, and Lead Engineering Techs (people-management track)
•Own the site-level test capital-budget ($8-45M annually) and ISO/IEC 17025 + A2LA / ANAB accreditation strategy
•Report to Sr Engineering Manager or Director of Engineering; interface with program managers, quality directors, and external customers on test-outcome deliverables

Interview Questions & Answers

5 free questions below. Career Kit unlocks 13 total plus resume bullets for every level.

Q1. Walk me through your last test-station commissioning for a new-product development program.technical

Structured, with real detail. Example: 'Commissioning of a servo-motion + vision inspection test station for a new autonomous mobile robot (AMR) at John Deere Waterloo Works. (1) Test-scope definition — coordinated with the design engineer on the specific test cases (drive-motor torque-response, encoder-feedback verification, LiDAR obstacle-detection at 3 test scenarios, safety-rated stop verification per ISO 10218-2 for cobot equivalent). (2) Test-station architecture — Rockwell CompactLogix 5380 controller + Kinetix 5700 servo drives on the drive-motor test; NI PXIe-1088 chassis with SC-2345 signal-conditioning for encoder-feedback verification; Cognex In-Sight 8000 series for LiDAR calibration verification. (3) Instrument calibration — all bench instrumentation traceable to NIST via ANSI/NCSL Z540.3; calibration certs on file with ISO 17025 accredited external cal lab; uncertainty budget documented per JCGM 100. (4) Test-station commissioning — physical build (2 weeks), instrument integration (1 week), LabVIEW + TestStand test-sequence authoring (2 weeks), Gage R&R study on torque-response measurement (5 days), FAT (factory acceptance test) with design engineer (2 days). (5) Handoff — test-station released to production test with SOP + calibration schedule + spare-parts list. Total commissioning 8 weeks against a plan of 10 weeks. Zero Gage R&R issues at FAT; Cpk 1.72 on the torque-response measurement.' Interviewers want real instrumentation, real timeline, real uncertainty budget — not abstract 'I helped commission the station.'

Q2. The test station is producing anomalous data — the design engineer says the device-under-test is fine but the DAQ is off. Walk me through what you do.situational

Structured troubleshooting. (1) Immediate — hold the test session; do not release additional units on the test-station in the anomalous state. (2) Calibration check — verify the bench instrumentation is within calibration cycle; check the last calibration certificate for date, cal-lab traceability, and uncertainty budget. If the instrumentation is past cal or has questionable traceability, that's likely the root cause. (3) Traceable reference-standard verification — put a known reference (calibration weight, reference resistor, calibration signal generator) into the test-station and verify the DAQ reads the reference correctly. If the DAQ misreads the reference, the fault is DAQ-side. If the DAQ reads the reference correctly, the fault is test-station-side (fixture, cabling, signal conditioning). (4) Systematic signal-verification — at the DAQ terminal, verify the signal from the device-under-test with a DMM or scope; compare to the DAQ reading. Discrepancy indicates cabling / signal-conditioning issue. Match indicates DAQ-scaling or DAQ-configuration issue. (5) Environmental factor check — temperature drift on the DAQ or fixture, EMI / RFI interference, ground loop, humidity effect on high-impedance measurements. (6) Configuration check — DAQ input range, filter, sample rate, buffer settings; TestStand sequence variable scope. (7) Escalation to the DAQ vendor (National Instruments, Keysight, Tektronix) support if resolution isn't clear in 4-8 hrs. Document the diagnostic sequence in the test-station log for future reference.

Q3. Describe a difficult test-anomaly you resolved.behavioral

STAR. Situation: Sr Engineering Tech at Boeing 787 Wing Assembly Everett facility on the wing-flex fatigue-test station; a batch of A350-competitive test coupons was showing anomalous crack-initiation timing — coupons were failing at 82% of predicted cycle count with no apparent cause. Task: diagnose whether the failure was material-related (test articles), test-station-related, or measurement-related. Action: (1) coordinated with the Materials Engineer on the coupon batch — pulled the material cert and heat-treat cert (7075-T651 aluminum from a specific batch); (2) reviewed the test-station calibration on the load frame (Instron 8802 with 250 kN load cell + Fluke 5522A signal simulator for load-cell verification) — load-cell was within cal but hadn't been verified with the signal simulator in 90 days; (3) ran a signal-simulator test on the load cell — showed a 3.2% high reading vs the reference, meaning the test-station was applying 3.2% more load than the test-sequence commanded; (4) escalated to the Sr Test Engineering Manager; test-station load-cell was re-calibrated by the accredited external cal lab (A2LA-accredited); (5) re-tested a subset of the batch at correct load; crack-initiation timing returned to predicted cycle count. Result: identified a load-cell drift that had affected the last 4 weeks of test data; the affected data was flagged in the test-report; the load-cell calibration interval was tightened from 12 months to 6 months plus quarterly signal-simulator verification. Interviewers screen for Sr Engineering Techs who diagnose test anomalies with instrumented data + traceable reference-standard verification, not with guesswork.

Q4. Why engineering technology rather than pure engineering (BS Mechanical / Electrical / Industrial Engineering)?culture

Honest answer that resonates. 'I like being hands-on with the equipment — engineering technology sits at the intersection of design engineering and production/test/field, and the differentiator is depth in test-execution + instrumentation + data-acquisition + PLC/controls + measurement uncertainty. It's a career that pays real money — Sr Engineering Tech at Boeing or Lockheed with ABET-accredited BET + FE-EIT + NICET Level III clears $102-118k with LTIP + RSU, and the Lead Engineering Tech / Principal Engineering Tech track opens $148-215k. Long-term I want to complete my Purdue BET degree (currently year 3 of 4), pass the FE-EIT within 12 months of graduation, and layer on AAMI CBET / NICET Level III + Six Sigma Green Belt by year 8. My career target is Principal Engineering Tech on the IC track at a Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base or Fortune-100 medical-device employer.' Interviewers screen for candidates who chose the specialty deliberately and understand the multi-disciplinary technology stack.

Q5. Where do you see your career in 5 years?closer

Show the fork clearly. Two tracks — IC (Sr Engineering Tech → Principal Engineering Tech / Distinguished Engineering Tech with technology-stack depth in test-engineering + instrumentation + reliability + FMEA + Six Sigma Black Belt) or manager (Sr Engineering Tech → Test Engineering Lead → Test Engineering Manager → Sr Lab Manager with team scale + capital-budget + external-accreditation ownership). Say which you're leaning toward. Name the certifications you're building — ABET-accredited BET/MET degree, FE-EIT + PE-track for engineering ladder lateral movement, AAMI CBET / NICET Level III / IV, Six Sigma Green Belt / Black Belt, ISA CAP / CCST, ISO/IEC 17025 assessor training. Name the target employer tier — Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, GE Aerospace / GE Healthcare, Honeywell, Rockwell Automation, Medtronic, Stryker, Applied Materials. Interviewers screen for candidates who've thought through the specific path and pay ladder.

Resume Template — Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET (6-13 yrs)

Copy these bullets into your resume as a starting point. Career Kit includes bullets for every level of the ladder.

Sr Engineering Tech / Sr Test Tech / Sr BMET (6-13 yrs)

▸Sr Test Engineering Tech at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Grand Prairie, TX site covering the radar-and-guidance system test lab; 9 years across Test Tech I, Test Tech II, and Sr Test Tech.
▸Delivered a 32% reduction in test-station commissioning time (avg 12 weeks → 8.2 weeks) across 4 new-product development programs over 24 months through structured test-plan-to-station-architecture standardization and NI TestStand template reuse.
▸Led the ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation renewal for the lab in FY23 — zero non-conformances against A2LA assessor findings; documented lead-assessor role.
▸ABET-accredited BS Electrical Engineering Technology (Rochester Institute of Technology, magna cum laude) + FE-EIT (passed 2019) + NICET Level III Electrical Power Testing + AAMI CBET + Six Sigma Green Belt + NI Certified LabVIEW Developer (CLD). $108k base + 12% target bonus + $18k LTIP + $15k RSU refresh annually + full benefits + DoD SECRET clearance current.

What Gets You Rejected

✗Cannot cite ASME Y14.5 GD&T fluency, ANSI/NCSL Z540.3 calibration traceability, or ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation requirements — signals candidate hasn't invested in the measurement-and-metrology foundation.
✗Weak documentation discipline — sloppy test-reports, missing calibration certificates, missing uncertainty budgets. Test-report quality is the primary customer-facing artifact for the engineering-tech function.
✗History of test-anomaly diagnosis that reflexively blames the device-under-test without traceable-reference verification of the test-station — expensive at scale and creates false-positive test data.
✗No ABET-accredited BET / MET degree after 5+ years in seat with career ambition — the Sr Engineering Tech and Lead Engineering Tech promotions increasingly require ABET-accredited BS at Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base and Fortune-100 medical-device employers.
✗No FE-EIT / EIT designation after 3+ years post-BS with career ambition beyond Sr Engineering Tech — the FE-EIT is the on-ramp to PE licensure for lateral movement to the engineering ladder, and its absence caps advancement.
✗History of MSA (Gage R&R) issues on Sr Engineering Tech-owned test stations — repeat Gage R&R failures signal the tech doesn't understand measurement-uncertainty discipline.
✗Poor cleanroom / ESD / medical-device handling protocol adherence at seats where those disciplines apply — recordable, career-limiting at semiconductor + medical-device manufacturers.

Salary Negotiation Levers

✓ABET-accredited BET / MET / EET / MechET degree — adds $18-35k at Sr Engineering Tech promotion and unlocks the Lead / Principal track. AAS + years-in-seat rarely closes this gap without a BS.
✓FE-EIT (Engineer-in-Training) passage — adds $8-15k at Sr Engineering Tech promotion and starts the 4-year work-experience clock toward PE licensure. PE-track candidates command a premium at defense-industrial-base employers.
✓AAMI CBET (biomedical) / NICET Level III/IV / ISA CAP / CCST specialty certification stack — each adds $4-10k at Sr Engineering Tech and Lead Engineering Tech promotions; the stack adds $15-30k total.
✓Security clearance — DoD SECRET clearance adds $8-18k at defense-industrial-base employers; TOP SECRET / SCI adds $18-35k. Cleared candidates are 40-60% faster to placement at Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base employers.
✓Metro premium — Seattle (Boeing), Dallas / Fort Worth (Lockheed / RTX), Southern California (Northrop / Raytheon / SpaceX), Cincinnati (GE Aerospace / P&G), Minneapolis (Medtronic), Boston (Boston Scientific / Raytheon / Analog Devices), Austin (Applied Materials / semi), Phoenix (semi / defense) pay 10-25% above US median for the same seat.
✓Six Sigma Green Belt / Black Belt — adds $4-9k at Sr Engineering Tech promotion at Fortune-500 employers with Lean / Six Sigma culture; Black Belt adds another $8-15k for lateral movement to Reliability Engineer or Quality Engineer.
✓Sign-on bonus — Sr Engineering Tech and Lead Engineering Tech moves between Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base and medical-device employers routinely negotiate $10-25k sign-on to offset unvested LTIP + RSU.
✓Tuition reimbursement — Section 127 caps at $5,250/yr federal tax-free; Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base and medical-device employers routinely top this up for BS in Engineering Technology at $10-25k/yr, and often cover MS in Engineering Management or MS in Systems Engineering for the Manager track at $15-35k/yr.
✓RSU + LTIP — Fortune-100 medical-device employers (Medtronic, Stryker, Boston Scientific) and Fortune-500 defense-industrial-base employers pay significant RSU / LTIP refreshers at Sr Engineering Tech and above ($15-45k annual refresh typical); ask for the refresh cadence and grant target.
✓Test-station patent / trade-secret contribution — Sr Engineering Techs who contribute to patentable test-station designs or trade-secret test methodologies can negotiate inventor-bonus + patent-issuance-bonus in addition to standard comp (typically $500-5,000 per patent per employer program).

Already a Engineering Technologists and Technicians? Grow From Here

Free playbooks on what actually gets you promoted and raised — not motivational advice, the real mechanics.

How to Ask for a Raise The Promotion Playbook — What Actually Gets People Promoted How to Write a Self-Review That Positions You for Promotion How to Build a Promotion Packet Your Committee Can't Ignore

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Resume Review — $29

Personalized resume review from someone who has hired engineering technologists and technicianss. Purchase, email your resume to support@weblabra.com, and receive detailed written feedback within 7 days.

✓ Occupation-specific critique (not generic)
✓ Rewrite suggestions for weak bullets
✓ Missing skills / keywords flagged
✓ Formatting + ATS-readability feedback
✓ 7-day turnaround, 100% refund if we miss it

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Career Kit — $19

✓ All 13 interview questions with expert answers
✓ 8 real questions aggregated from Glassdoor, Blind, Reddit, LinkedIn
✓ Interview format intel for 6 top employers
✓ 3 copy-paste salary negotiation emails
✓ Resume bullets for every level of the career ladder
✓ 30–60–90 day plan for your first role
✓ Cover letter templates specific to this occupation
✓ Detailed salary negotiation script
✓ Ranked list of certifications with cost + ROI
✓ Downloadable PDF for offline access
✓ Instant access, no expiration, no subscription

✓ 7-day money-back guarantee — no questions asked

One-time purchase. 7-day refund guarantee.

Sample reviews — real customer reviews will appear here as they come in.

“The interview question bank saved me. I got the exact question about 'walking through a DCF' at my Goldman Sachs superday, verbatim.”

— Anonymous, Financial Analyst

“Copy-paste negotiation emails are worth the price alone. I used the 'accepting with counter' template and got an extra $8k signing bonus.”

— Anonymous, Software Developer

“The 30-60-90 day plan for a new grad RN was better than the orientation my hospital gave. Wish I'd bought this in nursing school.”

— Anonymous, Registered Nurse

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Career Growth Kit — $29

Already working as a engineering technologists and technicians? This kit is for building your case for the next promotion or raise — not for getting hired.

✓ Self-review draft mapped to engineering technologists and technicians competencies
✓ Promotion packet outline with evidence appendix structure
✓ 30–60–90 day evidence-collection plan
✓ Promotion committee anticipation guide
✓ Tenure and pay reference bands by level
✓ Downloadable PDF for offline access

✓ 7-day money-back guarantee — no questions asked

One-time purchase. 7-day refund guarantee.

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Salary by State

Best Cities (cost-adjusted) →

Salary Map — Click a state for details

$53K

$107K■ No data

Top Paying States

Vertical line = national median. Click a state for full details.

State	Median	vs. National	Employment
Maine	$107,060	+36.6%	810
New Mexico	$101,750	+29.9%	1,390
Maryland	$99,970	+27.6%	2,630
Washington	$99,720	+27.3%	2,310
Virginia	$98,410	+25.6%	3,720
Rhode Island	$94,570	+20.7%	380
Nevada	$93,670	+19.6%	590
Hawaii	$90,040	+14.9%	410
Alaska	$89,810	+14.6%	380
Indiana	$88,880	+13.4%	480

Showing 1–10 of 49

Engineering Technologists and Technicians Salary by Metro Area

Metro Area	Median	vs. National
Portland-South Portland, ME	$108,850	+38.9%
Bremerton-Silverdale-Port Orchard, WA	$108,010	+37.9%
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD	$107,140	+36.7%
Lexington Park, MD	$105,560	+34.7%
Anchorage, AK	$103,110	+31.6%
Bakersfield-Delano, CA	$101,770	+29.9%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV	$99,540	+27.0%
Vallejo, CA	$97,470	+24.4%
Charleston, WV	$96,510	+23.2%
Las Cruces, NM	$96,100	+22.7%

Showing 1–10 of 188

Data Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS). Data reflects the most recent annual survey.

How does this compare to pro athletes?

A engineering technologists and technicians earning $78,350/year would need 761 years to match Stephen Curry's NBA salary, or 817 yearsto match Patrick Mahomes' NFL contract.

See all sports & celebrity salaries →

📈 See how engineering technologists and technicians salaries have changed over the past decade.

View Engineering Technologists and Technicians salary trend (2011–2024) →