Also called: Natural History Digitization Technician, Specimen Imaging Technician
Photographs and records old pressed plant specimens in museum collections so scientists anywhere can study them online.
Lifts a 120-year-old pressed wildflower on its paper sheet onto a camera stand, snaps a high-resolution photo and types in the faded handwritten label: who collected it, where and when. You do hundreds a day. The records end up in online databases used to track climate change and rare plants.
Estimate; often grant-funded projects.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Often a bachelor's in biology or museum studies; some projects hire students.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Botany, Museum Studies.
Growing slowly. Jobs depend on digitization grants.
Medium risk in 5 years, high in 10. AI reads old handwriting and fills in data, but careful specimen handling and imaging stay human.
Classes: Biology, Art or photography, History.
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.