All too often they end up leaving science altogether, driven out by low wages and a lack of professional advancement and recognition. Technicians differ from many other professionals in terms of their place of work, their responsibilities, and their training. And those differences challenge personnel managers and labor leaders alike. They are spread throughout a campus in an environment that Harvard associate dean Tom Schmitt compares to a modern feudal system. Their work varies from lab to lab and technician to technician.
Senior technicians work independently.
They provide continuity and keep labs humming when their professors are away. Their intimate knowledge of their subject frequently can shorten the time it takes for new graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to become productive researchers. If you're not nurturing them, then you're in trouble. Technicians enter a lab for different reasons. Many are young scientists seeking a few years' experience and a good recommendation toward graduate or medical school.