Biological Technician

A Biological Technician is an aide who assists Biologists with the scientific study of living things. If you found high school biology — with its plastic skeletons, Petri dishes, and frog dissections — glorious instead of gross, a job as a Biological Technician might be a good fit for you.

As a Biological Technician, also known as a Biological Aide or Laboratory Technician, you’re employed primarily by colleges and universities, although you may also work for government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, museums, or research centers — basically, anywhere with microscopes and lab coats.

No matter where you work, you spend your days in laboratories serving as the Scientist’s second set of hands. Typically, that means setting up scientific equipment, making scientific calculations, drawing charts and graphs, setting up experiments, keeping written records, and cleaning lab equipment such as test tubes, slides, animal cages, and scales.

Although your duties may vary (really, you do whatever Biologists need done), what’s always the same is your reason for doing them: You want to learn about living things — people, animals, plants, and microorganisms — in order to improve life on earth. That might mean assisting Scientists with analysis of blood, bacteria, beetles, or birch bark; conducting experiments to find cures for illnesses or solutions for agriculture; or collecting data about organisms’ anatomies, processes, functions, and relationships.

Because the options are endless, the common denominator is in your job title itself: Biological (the study of the living world) Technician (a technically skilled person).