Veterinary/Animal Health Technician

 

What Veterinary/Animal Health Technician Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant Majors

According to O*NET survey takers, a major in veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant should prepare you for careers in which you will need to be knowledgeable in the following areas:

• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Skills for Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant Majors

When studying veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant, you’ll learn many skills that will help you be successful in a wide range of jobs - even those that do not require a degree in the field. The following is a list of some of the most common skills needed for careers associated with this major:

• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Judgment and Decision Making - Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities for Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant Majors

Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

What Can You Do With a Veterinary/Animal Health Technician Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Veterinary Technologists and Technicians	20.0%	$34,420

How Much Do Veterinary/Animal Health Technician Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

Veterinary/Animal Health Technology/Technician and Veterinary Assistant majors often go into careers where salaries can range from $35,560 to $122,320 (25th to 75th percentile). This range includes all degree levels, so the salary for a person with just a bachelor’s degree may be a little less and the one for a person with an advanced degree may be a little more.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Veterinary/Animal Health Technician

Some careers associated with veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	6.7%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	7.6%
Some College Courses	1.1%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	39.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	7.8%
Master’s Degree	17.6%
Doctoral Degree	11.1%
Post-Doctoral Training	8.5%

Is a Degree in Veterinary/Animal Health Technician Worth It?

The median salary for a veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant grad is $35,560 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

Trades Related to Veterinary/Animal Health Technician

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to veterinary/animal health technology/technician and veterinary assistant.

Major	Number of Grads
Medical/Clinical Assistant	54,553
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant	7,327
Physical Therapy Assistant	6,499
Occupational Therapist Assistant	4,508
Other Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services	4,145
Emergency Care Attendant (EMT Ambulance)	3,373
Radiologist Assistant	1,360
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant	571
Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant	375
Anesthesiologist Assistant	371
Speech-Language Pathology Assistant	299
Pathology/Pathologist Assistant	157
Lactation Consultant	49

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.