Career overview · SOC 15-2099

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.

Also called: Bioinformatics Analyst · Bioinformatics Specialist · Bioinformatics Technician · Biotechnician · Museum Informatics Specialist · Research Scientist

Median pay (national)

$71,490

$40,330–$154,140 (10th–90th)

Employed (US)

4,660

BLS OEWS, May 2024

Outlook 2024–34

+4%

~300 openings/yr

Typical entry

Bachelor's degree

What the numbers say

Refit analysis ·Pay for bioinformatics technicians shows an unusually wide range: the top 10% earn $154,140 versus $40,330 at the bottom 10% — 3.8x. The median of $71,490 leaves roughly 116% of headroom to the 90th percentile, which is where seniority, specialization, and the skills below tend to pay off.

Refit analysis ·Employment is projected to change +4% from 2024 to 2034 — faster than the 3% all-occupation average. Even so, BLS projects about 300 openings a year, mostly to replace workers who retire or change careers.

Refit analysis ·Where you work moves the number a lot. Across the 20 states with released data, California pays the most for this role (median $175,170, +145% vs the national median), while Georgia sits lowest at $36,190 — a 384% spread for the same job title.

Refit analysis ·O*NET rates Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Writing as the highest-importance skills here — so a resume aimed at this role should lead with evidence of those, not a generic skills list.

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Top skills employers ask for

Ranked by O*NET importance for this occupation.

Reading Comprehension
Active Listening
Writing
Critical Thinking
Active Learning
Speaking
Mathematics
Monitoring
Science
Learning Strategies

What they actually do

Core O*NET tasks for this role.

Analyze or manipulate bioinformatics data using software packages, statistical applications, or data mining techniques.
Maintain awareness of new and emerging computational methods and technologies.
Enter or retrieve information from structural databases, protein sequence motif databases, mutation databases, genomic databases or gene expression databases.
Confer with researchers, clinicians, or information technology staff to determine data needs and programming requirements and to provide assistance with database-related research activities.
Participate in the preparation of reports or scientific publications.
Write computer programs or scripts to be used in querying databases.
Create data management or error-checking procedures and user manuals.
Extend existing software programs, web-based interactive tools, or database queries as sequence management and analysis needs evolve.
Conduct quality analyses of data inputs and resulting analyses or predictions.
Develop or maintain applications that process biologically based data into searchable databases for purposes of analysis, calculation, or presentation.

Tools & technology

Apache Subversion SVN
C
C++
Git
Hypertext markup language HTML
IBM SPSS Statistics
Jenkins CI
Linux
Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Visio
Microsoft Windows
MySQL
Oracle Database
Oracle Java
Perl
Python

Knowledge areas

Computers and Electronics
Mathematics
English Language
Biology
Design
Engineering and Technology
Chemistry
Education and Training