Also called: Research Technician, Lab Assistant
Helps scientists run lab experiments, organize data, and prepare equipment.
You might calibrate a lab spectrometer, sort meteorite samples, or run a data pipeline for a professor's team. It's a common gap-year or post-college job that opens doors to grad school.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in physics, astronomy, or geology; some undergrads do it part-time.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Physics, Astronomy, Geology.
Growing about average. Tied to research funding.
Medium risk for 10 years. AI handles more data cleanup and lab logs; setting up experiments and equipment stays human.
Classes: Physics, Earth science, Computer science, Statistics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-4099.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.