[Mr. Morphology - cool name! What morphology are you? - gram negative? gram
positive? hemolytic?]
MM raised a good point. In medical laboratories, you must have minimally a MLT
certification, and even then they probably won't let you do much. Virtually ALL
of our microbiologists are MT (ASCP) certified, which involves a year internship
at a training facility. There is beginning to be a shortage of MT's so now may be
a good time to look into training. You can get more information from:
http://www.ascp.org/bor/index.asp
Don't necessarily believe the burned out nay-sayers. The average age of the
medical technologist in this country is 48-50. In ten to fifteen years there will
be a MAJOR shortage. Look into training NOW. A MT certification will allow you
to work in all areas of the clinical laboratory. New kids right out of school in
our area are getting $18/hour to start plus sign-on bonuses of $2000. Not all
areas of the country pay this well, however, but the shortage will put pressure on
employers to raise wages or risk having no one do their lab work.
Research work is a different ball game entirely and MT certification isn't
particularly needed, and the work is quite different - so much so that I won't
begin to speculate on what they do. In these types of jobs, higher level degrees
are probably more important. In clinical labs, most of the people that get higher
degrees go on into management and get MBA's.
There are other certifying agencies besides ASCP, but they're the most well known
and the one employers ask for in their ads for laboratory personnel.
Good luck.
Judy Dilworth, M.T. (ASCP)
Microbiology 26 years
"Mr. Morphology" wrote:
> ...It is hard to find employment in microbiology. Though it is the most
> practical of the biosciences, its primary utility is in clinical diagnosis,
> and typically to get those type of jobs requires a degree in medical
> technology instead of biology........
>
