Research Technician

Did you always like playing with Bunsen burners and graduated cylinders in high school chemistry labs? You could do it full time as a Research Technician or Lab Assistant. But rather than just getting a good grade and bonding with your lab partner, this time your team might be researching cancer prevention or producing a brand new chemical compound. As a Research Technician, you will go way beyond high school tinkering, instead working with complex equipment that will make you feel like a mad Scientist if you are just assisting with setting up experiments or recording data.

Everything you do—from measuring and mixing chemicals, to labeling petri dishes, to entering data into a spreadsheet—has to be done just the way you were asked to do it. And if you make a mistake (you are human, after all), the best thing you can do is to admit it right away. Most laboratory research is based on very exact procedures and formulas the Research Technician is getting paid to mind the details. Besides, there may be potential hazards like corrosive chemicals or airborne diseases that require extra caution.

One reality of this job is the repetition: most procedures that you learn will need to be repeated dozens or hundreds of times in order to produce credible results. It might get tedious, but it is a great way to begin a career in science. Ask lots of questions, and you’ll learn so much more than you will if you just follow the instructions given to you.