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Technology

Bioinformatics Technicians

Apply principles and methods of bioinformatics to assist scientists in areas such as pharmaceuticals, medical technology, biotechnology, computational biology, proteomics, computer information science, biology and medical informatics. Apply bioinformatics tools to visualize, analyze, manipulate or interpret molecular data. May build and maintain databases for processing and analyzing genomic or other biological information.

Median salary (BLS)

$81,490

10th–90th percentile (BLS)

$48k – $155k

Job outlook

+4% (faster than average)

AI exposure

Early-career check: graduates of the matching programs below typically earn $109,000 ten years after starting college — an early-career figure, vs. the all-experience BLS median above. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard.

Plan a path to Bioinformatics Technicians

Qualification costsStack incomeBest cities/statesSchool ROIJob-posting fitTailored resume

Education

Typical entry: Bachelor's degree

Plan my path to this →

How to qualify

Estimate

Cost to qualify

$40,300–$152,000

Time to qualify

4.3 yr

Renewal

—

  1. 1

    Bachelor's degree

    Degree

    Four years at public in-state rates — average published tuition & fees ≈ $11,610/yr, plus books. Private and out-of-state run higher; grant aid lowers most students' actual net price.

    $40,000–$150,000 · 4 years source

  2. 2

    Industry certification (optional)

    Certification

    Vendor certifications (AWS, CompTIA, Google, Microsoft…) are a common entry booster, rarely a hard requirement.

    $300–$2,000 · 3 months source

Estimated typical U.S. route for "Bioinformatics Technicians" — built from BLS education requirements and College Board 2024–25 average published prices (public, in-state tuition + fees + books). Not yet verified against a specific state's licensing rules — confirm with your state licensing board or program.

Typical progression

  1. Bioinformatics Technicians Intern

    Internship

    $36,000

    ~4 mos to advance

  2. Junior Bioinformatics Technicians

    Entry / Junior

    $47,980

    ~2 yrs to advance

  3. Bioinformatics Technicians

    Established

    $81,490

    ~3 yrs to advance

  4. Senior Bioinformatics Technicians

    Senior

    $118,035

Internships are a common on-ramp here — they speed up landing that first role and improve your odds, which is why the Safe and High-ceiling plans build one in.

Key skills

A typical day

  • •Analyze or manipulate bioinformatics data using software packages, statistical applications, or data mining techniques.
  • •Extend existing software programs, web-based interactive tools, or database queries as sequence management and analysis needs evolve.
  • •Maintain awareness of new and emerging computational methods and technologies.
  • •Conduct quality analyses of data inputs and resulting analyses or predictions.
  • •Enter or retrieve information from structural databases, protein sequence motif databases, mutation databases, genomic databases or gene expression databases.

Fields of study

Any field

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Reputation-based selection; stats shown are outcome data per school.