To become a technician, you must complete high school or your GED and pass certain college-preparatory classes, including English, math and science. You can also receive training through the military, but to find a job outside of the Armed Forces, you may need additional educational training. To become a technologist, you need to complete high school or your GED and pass certain college-preparatory classes, including English, math and science. Then you must finish at least four years of college in a bachelor's degree program at a four-year college. To be eligible for certain research, teaching, administrative and specialty positions, you should also take two years of graduate school in a master's degree program after college.
Some states require technologists to pass an examination to become registered or licensed.
As a medical laboratory technician or technologist, you will most likely work in the laboratory of a clinic or other health-related organization performing scientific tests on body fluid samples to search for disease. You will work on your own much of the time, but you will have some contact with other health professionals. As a technician, you will work under a technologist in performing basic tests and laboratory procedures. With more education and training, you can be a technologist and run many different types of medical tests. For example, you may test a patient's blood sample for hematology and then report your findings to the patient's doctor and work with him or her to decide upon an appropriate medical treatment.