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Chemical Technicians

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Conduct chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials for research and development of new products or processes, quality control, maintenance of environmental standards, and other work involving experimental, theoretical, or practical application of chemistry and related sciences.

Related: Calibration Technologists & Technicians Histotechnologists Industrial Engineering Technologists & Technicians Nanotechnology Engineering Technologists & Technicians Quality Control Analysts

Industries: Manufacturing Professional, Science, & Technical

Summary
Details

Develop new chemical engineering processes or production techniques.
Order and inventory materials to maintain supplies.
Train new employees on topics such as the proper operation of laboratory equipment.
Monitor product quality to ensure compliance with standards and specifications.
Direct or monitor other workers producing chemical products.
Set up and conduct chemical experiments, tests, and analyses, using techniques such as chromatography, spectroscopy, physical or chemical separation techniques, or microscopy.
Maintain, clean, or sterilize laboratory instruments or equipment.
Maintain, clean, or sterilize laboratory instruments or equipment.
Provide and maintain a safe work environment by participating in safety programs, committees, or teams and by conducting laboratory or plant safety audits.
Conduct chemical or physical laboratory tests to assist scientists in making qualitative or quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, or gaseous materials.
Prepare chemical solutions for products or processes, following standardized formulas, or create experimental formulas.
Write technical reports or prepare graphs or charts to document experimental results.
Design or fabricate experimental apparatus to develop new products or processes.
Compile and interpret results of tests and analyses.
Operate experimental pilot plants, assisting with experimental design.
Set up and conduct chemical experiments, tests, and analyses, using techniques such as chromatography, spectroscopy, physical or chemical separation techniques, or microscopy.

Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

Education

Associate's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

1 to 12 months on-the-job training

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

55940/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

26.89/hr

Currently Employed

1,340

Yearly Projected Openings

180

Investigative: People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out. They do well at jobs that need:

Attention to Detail
Integrity
Dependability
Analytical Thinking
Initiative
Adaptability/Flexibility

Air or gas tanks or cylinders
Air velocity and temperature monitors
Ammeters
Atomic absorption AA spectrometers
Barometers
Bench refractometers or polarimeters
Benchtop centrifuges
Bi metallic sensors
Binocular light compound microscopes
Calorimeters
Ceramic crucibles
Chromatographic detectors
Chromatography syringes
Chromatography tubing
Comparators
Coulometers
Cuvettes
Decontamination shower
Desktop computers
Dissolved oxygen meters
Drying cabinets or ovens
Electronic toploading balances
Eyewashers or eye wash stations
Facial shields
Filtering machinery
Fire extinguishers
Flame ionization analyzers
Flowmeters
Fractionation apparatus
Freezedryers or lyophilzers
Fume hoods or cupboards
Gas burners
Gas chromatographs
Gas detectors
Gas masks
Geiger counters
Glass crucibles
Goggles
Gravimeters
Handheld thermometer
Hazardous material protective apparel
Heating mantles or tapes
Heating or drying equipment or accessories
High pressure liquid chromatograph chromatography
High pressure sodium lamp HID
Homogenizers
Hot air blowers
Hydrometers
Immersion heaters
Inductively coupled plasma ICP spectrometers
Infrared lamps
Infrared spectrometers
Ion analyzers
Ion chromatographs
Laboratory balances
Laboratory blenders or emulsifiers
Laboratory box furnaces
Laboratory burets
Laboratory centrifugal pumps
Laboratory clamps
Laboratory cork borers
Laboratory crushers or pulverizers
Laboratory dishes
Laboratory flasks
Laboratory funnels
Laboratory general purpose tubing
Laboratory glass tube
Laboratory heat exchange condensers
Laboratory hotplates
Laboratory mechanical convection ovens
Laboratory mills
Laboratory mixers
Laboratory presses
Laboratory sprayers
Laboratory staining dishes or jars
Laboratory tongs
Laboratory vacuum pumps
Lasers
Liquid chromatographs
Liquid scintillation counters
Magnetic stirrers
Mainframe computers
Manometers
Manostats
Mass spectrometers
Mercury vapor lamp HID
Metering pumps
Monochromators
Multi gas monitors
Multimeters
Nuclear magnetic resonance NMR spectrometers
Optical beamsplitters
Organic carbon analyzers
Pasteur or transfer pipettes
Peristaltic pumps
Personal computers
Pestle or mortars
Photoelectric sensors
Photometer
Pipette washers
Polarimeters
Polarizers
Pressure indicators
Prisms
Programmable tube furnaces
Protective gloves
Pull spring balances
Pycnometers
Pyrometers
Radiation detectors
Refrigerated baths
Refrigerated cooling modules
Remote reading thermometers
Respirators
Rheometers
Robotic or automated liquid handling systems
Rotameters
Safety glasses
Scientific calculator
Spectrofluorimeters or fluorimeters
Spectrophotometer accessories
Spectrophotometers
Syringe pumps
Tensiometers
Thermal conductivity analyzers
Thermocouples
Thin layer chromatography tanks
Thinlayer chromatographs
Titration equipment
Triple beam balances
Turbidimeters
Ultracentrifuges
Ultraviolet UV lamps
Vacuum desiccators
Vacuum gauges
Vacuum or rotary evaporators
Viscosimeters
Voltage or current meters
Volumetric pipettes
Water baths
pH meters

Analytical or scientific software
Data base user interface and query software
Development environment software
Electronic mail software
Enterprise resource planning ERP software
Object or component oriented development software
Office suite software
Operating system software
Presentation software
Spreadsheet software
Word processing software

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