Education:
67%
Bachelor's Degree
11%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)
Environmental Engineering Technologist or Technician
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Job Outlook:
Little or no change
Education:
Associate's degree
Salary
High:
$84,430.00
Average:
$58,020.00
Hourly
Average:
$27.90
What they do:
Apply theory and principles of environmental engineering to modify, test, and operate equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental problems, including waste treatment and site remediation, under the direction of engineering staff or scientists. May assist in the development of environmental remediation devices.
On the job, you would:
- Maintain project logbook records or computer program files.
- Record laboratory or field data, including numerical data, test results, photographs, or summaries of visual observations.
- Perform environmental quality work in field or office settings.
Important Qualities
Communication skills. When working on teams, environmental engineering technologists and technicians must listen attentively and convey information to others.
Critical-thinking skills. Environmental engineers rely on technologists and technicians to help identify problems and solutions and to implement the engineers’ plans.
Observational skills. Environmental engineering technologists and technicians must be able to evaluate situations, recognize problems, and inform environmental engineers as quickly as possible.
Problem-solving skills. Environmental engineering technologists and technicians implement plans designed by environmental engineers. They must be able to resolve issues that arise, such as unexpected findings during fieldwork.
Reading skills. Environmental engineering technologists and technicians must be able to understand legal and technical documents in order to ensure that regulations are being met.
Personality
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Characteristics of this Career |
|---|---|---|---|
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83% | Cooperation - Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude. | |
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82% | Attention to Detail - Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks. | |
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81% | Integrity - Job requires being honest and ethical. | |
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80% | Dependability - Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations. | |
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78% | Initiative - Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges. | |
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76% | Stress Tolerance - Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high-stress situations. | |
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73% | Adaptability/Flexibility - Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace. | |
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70% | Analytical Thinking - Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems. | |
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67% | Achievement/Effort - Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks. | |
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67% | Leadership - Job requires a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction. | |
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66% | Independence - Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Strengths |
|---|---|---|---|
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100% | Realistic - Work involves designing, building, or repairing of equipment, materials, or structures, engaging in physical activity, or working outdoors. Realistic occupations are often associated with engineering, mechanics and electronics, construction, woodworking, transportation, machine operation, agriculture, animal services, physical or manual labor, athletics, or protective services. | |
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78% | Investigative - Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service. | |
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72% | Conventional - Work involves following procedures and regulations to organize information or data, typically in a business setting. Conventional occupations are often associated with office work, accounting, mathematics/statistics, information technology, finance, or human resources. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Values of the Work Environment |
|---|---|---|---|
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83% | Support - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical. | |
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61% | Working Conditions - Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions. Corresponding needs are Activity, Compensation, Independence, Security, Variety and Working Conditions. |
Aptitude
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Abilities | Cognitive, Physical, Personality |
|---|---|---|---|
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75% | Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. | |
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75% | Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). | |
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75% | Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. | |
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72% | Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations). | |
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72% | Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences. | |
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72% | Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. | |
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72% | Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem. | |
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69% | Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). | |
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69% | Speech Clarity - The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you. | |
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66% | Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. |
Job Details
Responsibilities
Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
Create models of engineering designs or methods.
Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
Maintain clean work areas.
Assess product or process usefulness.
Create models of engineering designs or methods.
Package materials for transport.
Monitor processes for compliance with standards.
Prepare contracts, disclosures, or applications.
Document design or operational test results.
Analyze test or validation data.
Collect samples of raw materials or finished products.
Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
Maintain operational records or records systems.
Evaluate designs or specifications to ensure quality.
Schedule operational activities.
Purchase materials, equipment, or other resources.
Dispose of hazardous materials.
Inspect facilities or sites to determine if they meet specifications or standards.
Provide technical guidance to other personnel.
Research engineering aspects of biological or chemical processes.
Supervise production or support personnel.
Dispose of hazardous materials.
Prepare technical or operational reports.
Investigate system, equipment, or product failures.
Monitor processes for compliance with standards.
Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
Advise customers on the use of products or services.
Analyze operational data to evaluate operations, processes or products.
Prepare detailed work plans.
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Attributes & Percentage of Time Spent |
|---|---|---|---|
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94% | Electronic Mail - How often do you use electronic mail in this job? | |
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93% | Face-to-Face Discussions - How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job? | |
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87% | Telephone - How often do you have telephone conversations in this job? | |
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86% | Contact With Others - How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it? | |
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75% | Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results - What results do your decisions usually have on other people or the image or reputation or financial resources of your employer? | |
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74% | Work With Work Group or Team - How important is it to work with others in a group or team in this job? | |
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73% | Importance of Being Exact or Accurate - How important is being very exact or highly accurate in performing this job? | |
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73% | Letters and Memos - How often does the job require written letters and memos? | |
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70% | Responsible for Others' Health and Safety - How much responsibility is there for the health and safety of others in this job? | |
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69% | Structured versus Unstructured Work - To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals? | |
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68% | Outdoors, Exposed to Weather - How often does this job require working outdoors, exposed to all weather conditions? | |
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68% | Indoors, Environmentally Controlled - How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions? | |
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67% | Frequency of Decision Making - How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization? | |
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72% | Duration of Typical Work Week - Number of hours typically worked in one week. |
| A3 | Your Strengths | Importance |
Tasks & Values |
|---|---|---|---|
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78% | Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates - Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person. | |
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76% | Getting Information - Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources. | |
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73% | Documenting/Recording Information - Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form. | |
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72% | Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards - Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards. | |
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69% | Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials - Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects. | |
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69% | Working with Computers - Using computers and computer systems (including hardware and software) to program, write software, set up functions, enter data, or process information. |
What Environmental Engineering Technologists and Technicians Do
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians collect water samples.
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians carry out the plans that environmental engineers develop.
Duties
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians typically do the following:- Set up, test, operate, and modify equipment used to prevent or clean up environmental pollution
- Maintain project records and computer program files
- Collect and analyze samples, such as of ground water, for monitoring pollution or treatment
- Review documents to ensure that they are complete and conform to reporting requirements
- Review work plans to schedule activities
- Arrange for the disposal of asbestos, lead, and other hazardous materials
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians work both indoors and outdoors help to ensure environmental quality. Their tasks aid environmental engineers in developing solutions to control, prevent, and mitigate damage caused by pollution and other environmental problems.
In laboratories, environmental engineering technologists and technicians record observations and test results and document photographs. To keep laboratories supplied, they also may gather product information, identify vendors and suppliers, and order materials and equipment.
In the field, environmental engineering technologists and technicians may collect air, soil, or ground and surface water samples of an area. They also prepare and clean equipment, operate field sampling pumps, and monitor instruments.
They also may inspect facilities for compliance with regulations governing substances such as asbestos, lead, and wastewater.
Work Environment
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians held about 13,900 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of environmental engineering technologists and technicians were as follows:
| Engineering services | 30% |
| Management, scientific, and technical consulting services | 17 |
| Government | 15 |
| Waste management and remediation services | 10 |
| Manufacturing | 7 |
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians work under the direction of environmental engineers and as part of a team with other technicians. Environmental engineering technologists and technicians may work indoors, often in laboratories. They also work outdoors, sometimes in remote locations.
Because environmental engineering technologists and technicians help with environmental cleanup, they may be exposed to hazards from equipment, chemicals, or toxic materials. For this reason, they must follow proper safety procedures, such as wearing hazmat suits and respirators as needed. When they work in wet areas, environmental engineering technologists and technicians wear rubber boots to keep their legs and feet dry.
Work Schedules
Most environmental engineering technologists and technicians work full time and typically have regular hours. However, they may work irregular hours in order to monitor operations or contain a major environmental threat.
Getting Started
How to Become an Environmental Engineering Technologist or Technician
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians perform indoor and outdoor environmental quality work.
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians typically need an associate’s degree in environmental engineering technology or a related field.
Education
Prospective environmental engineering technologists and technicians should take science and math courses in high school to prepare for postsecondary programs in engineering technology.
Employers usually prefer to hire candidates who have completed ABET-accredited postsecondary programs. Although some candidates may be hired with a high school diploma and postsecondary coursework, environmental engineering technologists and technicians typically need an associate’s degree in environmental engineering technology or a related field to enter the occupation.
Associate degree programs in environmental engineering technology are available in community colleges and vocational–technical schools. These programs generally include courses in chemistry, environmental assessment, hazardous-waste management, and mathematics. Some environmental engineering technologists and technicians enter the occupation with a bachelor’s degree.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations
Some states require environmental technologists and technicians to have permits or licenses to remove hazardous waste. Workers also may be required to have Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Standard (HAZWOPER) certification. HAZWOPER certification includes training in health hazards, personal protective equipment, site safety, recognizing and identifying hazards, and decontamination. Refresher training may be required to maintain certification.
Advancement
Environmental engineering technologists and technicians usually begin work as trainees in entry-level positions and are supervised by an environmental engineer or experienced technician. As they gain experience, technologists and technicians take on more responsibility. Some advance to become senior environmental technologists and technicians or lead environmental technologists and technicians, functioning as supervisors onsite.
Technicians with a bachelor’s degree may advance to become environmental engineers.
Job Outlook
Employment of environmental engineering technologists and technicians is projected to show little or no change from 2022 to 2032.
Despite limited employment growth, about 1,300 openings for environmental engineering technologists and technicians are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Most of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment
Employment in this occupation is typically tied to projects created by environmental engineers. Some demand for environmental engineering technologists and technicians is expected over the decade as increasing concerns about pollution lead to water- and air-quality improvement efforts. However, employment growth may be limited as automated environmental testing increases productivity for these workers.
Contacts for More Information
For more information about accredited programs, visit
For more information about general engineering education and career resources, visit
Technology Student Association
For information about OSHA certification, visit
U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety & Health Administration
Similar Occupations
This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of environmental engineering technologists and technicians.
| Occupation | Job Duties | Entry-Level Education | Median Annual Pay, May 2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Environmental Engineers |
Environmental engineers use engineering disciplines in developing solutions to problems of planetary health. |
Bachelor's degree | $96,530 |
|
Environmental Science and Protection Technicians |
Environmental science and protection technicians monitor the environment and investigate sources of pollution and contamination. |
Associate's degree | $48,380 |
|
Environmental Scientists and Specialists |
Environmental scientists and specialists use their knowledge of the natural sciences to protect the environment and human health. |
Bachelor's degree | $76,480 |
|
Hazardous Materials Removal Workers |
Hazardous materials removal workers identify and dispose of harmful substances such as asbestos, lead, and radioactive waste. |
High school diploma or equivalent | $46,690 |