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Major · Engineering Tech

Keeping the hospital running, one device at a time

Biomedical Technology/Technician (CIP 15.0401) trains you to install, calibrate, repair, and maintain the medical equipment hospitals depend on every day — infusion pumps, ventilators, defibrillators, patient monitors, imaging systems, and surgical robotics. Across 95 colleges, 652 students completed this credential last year, with associate's degrees making up most of the pipeline. The core career destination, Medical Equipment Repairer (BMET), reports a $62,630 BLS median wage with 12.9% projected job growth — one of the strongest growth rates in the engineering-tech tier.

Schools offering
95
Annual completions
652
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$76k

About this major

Biomedical Technology/Technician (CIP 15.0401) is the trade-credential pathway into the Biomedical Equipment Technician (BMET) role — the people who keep a hospital's medical equipment working, calibrated, and safe. The CIP definition emphasizes applying basic engineering principles and technical skills in support of engineers developing biological or medical systems and products: instrument calibration, design and installation testing, system safety and maintenance procedures, and procurement and installation. In practice, coursework runs heavy on electronics fundamentals, anatomy and medical terminology, hospital safety standards (IEC 60601, AAMI, NFPA 99, Joint Commission), networked medical devices and cybersecurity, imaging systems, lab analyzers, and hands-on labs working on real defibrillators, infusion pumps, ventilators, anesthesia machines, and patient monitors donated by hospital partners.

The major rewards a particular kind of mind: someone who likes electronics troubleshooting but wants the work to matter in a clinical setting, who can read a schematic and a service manual without flinching, and who is comfortable interrupting a busy nurse to ask a quiet diagnostic question while a code is happening two rooms over. A baseline interest in how electrical, mechanical, and software pieces meet biology — an EKG amplifier touching a patient's chest, a syringe pump dosing a milliliter every twelve seconds, an X-ray tube firing under safety interlocks — matters more than raw math ability. Students often arrive from military electronics ratings (Air Force 4A2X1, Army 68A), consumer-electronics repair backgrounds, EMT or patient-care work looking for a technical pivot, or first-generation engineering pathways looking for a faster credential than a four-year bachelor's.

Nationally, the major is small and concentrated in the trade-credential tier. The packet shows 652 completions across 95 colleges, with the largest single producer being the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology in Schertz, Texas at 106 associate's completions — a school whose curriculum descends directly from the DoD's joint biomed school at Fort Sam Houston. Texas State Technical College (Waco), San Diego Miramar College, San Jacinto Community College (Pasadena, TX), and St Philip's College (San Antonio) form the rest of the associate's-dominant top tier. A smaller bachelor's-and-AAS pipeline runs through Solano Community College, MiraCosta College, and Indiana University–Indianapolis, often via stackable BAS in Health Technology Management. The closest career destination — Medical Equipment Repairers (SOC 49-9062) at a $62,630 median wage with 12.9% projected job growth — is one of the strongest combined-pay-and-growth pictures in the engineering-tech CIP family.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Medical equipment repairers $63k +12.9% Associate's degree
Engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, all other $77k +1.5% Associate's degree
Calibration technologists and technicians $65k +4.7% Associate's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$76k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$73k

Bachelor's

$86k

Who this major is for

This major fits if the work of keeping hospital equipment running sounds like a career rather than a job, and if you would rather get a busy ICU's broken ventilator back online before morning rounds than design the next ventilator from scratch. It suits people who like the mix of structured PM schedules and unscheduled service calls, who can balance technical precision (electrical-leakage measurements to 100 microamps, calibration to manufacturer specs) with the soft skills of working alongside nurses, anesthesiologists, and biomed managers. The data points to two clean entry routes: a two-year associate's at a technical college like College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, Texas State Technical College, San Diego Miramar, San Jacinto, or St Philip's, or — for the management ladder — a stackable AAS-to-BAS at Solano, MiraCosta, or Indiana University–Indianapolis. If your target is the BMET I role at the $62,630 BLS median, the associate's plus the AAMI CBET certification (eligible after two years on the floor) is the standard credential stack. Veterans with Air Force 4A2X1 or Army 68A training are an exceptionally strong fit and often land OEM or ISO field-service roles directly with GI Bill–funded credentialing as the bridge.

Reconsider this route if your real goal is to design medical devices rather than maintain them — that path runs through Bioengineering / Biomedical Engineering (CIP 14.0501) at an ABET-accredited four-year program, not this technician CIP. Pause as well if you are uncomfortable in clinical environments — you will be in patient rooms with patients present, in surgical suites between cases, in dialysis units and emergency departments, and the work requires comfort with sights, sounds, and smells most office jobs spare you. The bachelor's-vs-associate's wage gap in this dataset is roughly $13,131, which is real but probably not enough to justify two extra years and the tuition unless you are aiming squarely at the biomed manager or clinical-engineering management ladder, or at imaging-specialty roles where the CRES credential and bachelor's together unlock $85,000–$110,000+ pay. Finally, the field is reshaping under networked medical devices, cybersecurity (the FDA's premarket cybersecurity guidance, MDS2 forms, hospital IT integration), and AI-driven predictive maintenance — so a student who only wants to swap circuit boards on 1990s analog equipment is aiming at the slowest-growing slice of the market. Leaning into networked-device security, CMMS data, and at least conversational fluency with imaging modalities is what keeps your career ceiling open.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Biomedical Technology/Technician

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
College of Biomedical Equipment Technology Schertz, TX 106 0 106
Texas State Technical College Waco, TX 79 0 79
San Diego Miramar College San Diego, CA 66 0 66
Solano Community College Fairfield, CA 24 16 40
MiraCosta College Oceanside, CA 16 17 33
Indiana University-Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN 8 14 22
San Jacinto Community College Pasadena, TX 20 0 20
St Philip's College San Antonio, TX 17 0 17
Cincinnati State Technical and Community College Cincinnati, OH 11 0 11
Madisonville Community College Madisonville, KY 10 0 10
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Construction Engineering Technology/Technician

3,657 completions/yr

Mechanical/Mechanical Engineering Technology/Technician

2,735 completions/yr

Diesel Mechanics Technology/Technician

2,426 completions/yr

Industrial Technology/Technician

1,933 completions/yr

Manufacturing Engineering Technology/Technician

1,695 completions/yr

Recording Arts Technology/Technician

1,311 completions/yr

Electromechanical/Electromechanical Engineering Technology/Technician

1,104 completions/yr

Chemical Technology/Technician

1,095 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What does a Biomedical Equipment Technician actually do day-to-day?
BMETs are the people who keep medical devices working safely. A typical day includes scheduled preventive maintenance on infusion pumps, defibrillators, patient monitors, and ventilators; safety and electrical-leakage testing per IEC 60601 and AAMI standards; troubleshooting service calls when a clinician pages the biomed shop because a device is alarming or down; firmware updates and recall management; commissioning new equipment as it arrives; and documentation in a CMMS like Nuvolo, Connectiv, or TMS. Specialists work on imaging (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound), lab analyzers, dialysis, anesthesia machines, or surgical robotics. The Bureau of Labor Statistics groups this work under Medical Equipment Repairers (49-9062), reporting a $62,630 median wage and 12.9% projected job growth — both above engineering-tech-tier averages.
How is this different from Bioengineering or Biomedical Engineering (CIP 14.0501)?
Different jobs, different ceilings, different schools. Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering (CIP 14.0501) is the four-year ABET-accredited engineering track that trains people to design medical devices — implants, prosthetics, diagnostic instruments, drug-delivery systems — typically at research universities, with heavy math, biology, and design coursework. Biomedical Technology/Technician (CIP 15.0401) is the trade-credential side: you maintain and repair the devices engineers designed, almost always entering through an associate's at a community or technical college. The packet reflects that — 95 colleges, top producer is the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology in Schertz, Texas, with 106 associate's completions, followed by Texas State Technical College and San Diego Miramar College. If your goal is hospital biomed shop floor work or a service-tech role at TriMedx, Crothall, GE, Philips, or Siemens, this CIP is the right pick. If your goal is to design the next pacemaker, transfer-up to 14.0501.
Is the associate's enough, or should I plan on the bachelor's?
The associate's is the standard hiring credential for entry-level BMET work. The Medical Equipment Repairer SOC explicitly lists Associate's degree as the typical entry point, and the packet's top producers (College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, Texas State Technical College, San Diego Miramar, San Jacinto, St Philip's, Cincinnati State, Madisonville Community College) are all associate's-only programs feeding hospital and ISO employers directly. The honest math: associate's-completer median earnings five years out land near $72,871 versus $86,003 for the bachelor's cohort — a roughly $13,131 premium. Where the bachelor's pays off is on the management ladder: Solano Community College, MiraCosta College, and Indiana University–Indianapolis offer stackable BAS Health Tech Management or applied-science bachelor's tracks that feed Biomed Supervisor, Imaging Engineer, and Clinical Engineering Manager roles. The pattern most graduates follow is AAS → 2–4 years on the shop floor → BAS while working → biomed manager or clinical engineering.
What certifications matter, and when do I sit for them?
The big three are AAMI's CBET (Certified Biomedical Equipment Technician), CRES (Certified Radiology Equipment Specialist), and CLES (Certified Laboratory Equipment Specialist). CBET is the broad floor credential most BMETs target two to four years after starting, with eligibility based on a mix of education and field experience — the associate's degree plus two years of verified BMET work is the most common path. CRES targets imaging-specialist roles (X-ray, CT, MRI) where pay runs materially higher than general BMET work. CLES is the lab-analyzer track. ECRI's Certified Healthcare Technology Manager (CHTM) sits at the management tier. Holding CBET typically moves a tech from BMET I to BMET II and adds $5,000–$10,000 to base pay; CRES holders in active imaging markets routinely clear $80,000–$100,000+. Most employers reimburse exam fees and many will move you onto an imaging or lab track once you've earned the broader CBET.
Where do graduates actually work, and which employers hire?
Three lanes dominate. First, in-house hospital biomed shops at health systems like HCA, Kaiser Permanente, Cleveland Clinic, Mayo, and the VA — typically the steadiest schedules and best benefits. Second, independent service organizations (ISOs) and managed-services firms — TriMedx (the Indianapolis-based market leader, spun out of Ascension), Sodexo Healthcare Technology Management, Crothall Healthcare, ABM, and Aramark — which contract biomed services to hospitals and rotate technicians across regional accounts. Third, OEMs — Philips, Siemens Healthineers, GE HealthCare, Stryker, Medtronic, Hologic, Olympus — which run their own field-service organizations for the imaging, surgical, and high-acuity equipment they build, with travel and on-call expectations but the highest pay. Junior titles include BMET I, Biomedical Equipment Specialist, Field Service Technician, and Imaging Service Engineer. The Texas concentration in the packet — College of Biomedical Equipment Technology, Texas State Technical College, San Jacinto, St Philip's — reflects a regional employer dense with health systems and large ISO operations.
Is the military a viable on-ramp, and does prior service shorten the path?
Yes, materially. The Air Force Biomedical Equipment Technician (AFSC 4A2X1) and the Army Biomedical Equipment Specialist (MOS 68A) train enlisted service members at the DoD's joint medical-equipment school at Fort Sam Houston, Texas — the same San Antonio biomed-training cluster that anchors the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology and St Philip's College in this packet. Veterans separating from those MOSs are among the most sought-after BMET hires in the civilian market, and many transition straight into TriMedx, hospital systems, or OEM field-service roles with little additional schooling. For veterans wanting a degree to round out the resume, GI Bill funds at any of the AAS programs in the packet are a clean path, and several of these schools will award credit for the military training. If you are not prior-service, the same Fort Sam Houston curriculum lineage is reflected in the College of Biomedical Equipment Technology's program design, which is why it produces the most graduates of any single school in the country.
What is the job market and growth outlook actually like?
Stronger than the engineering-tech tier as a whole. Medical Equipment Repairers (49-9062) project 12.9% job growth — well above average — driven by aging hospital equipment fleets, the proliferation of bedside and home medical devices, the surgical-robotics build-out (Intuitive Surgical, Stryker Mako, Medtronic Hugo), and the imaging fleet refresh cycle as health systems replace pre-pandemic capital. Demand is geographically broad because every hospital in the country needs a biomed shop, but concentrates around major health-system metros: Houston/San Antonio/Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Indianapolis (TriMedx HQ), Cleveland, and the Northeast corridor. Pay scales with specialty: general BMETs run $55,000–$70,000, CBET-credentialed BMET IIs run $70,000–$85,000, imaging service engineers (CRES) run $85,000–$110,000, and senior OEM field engineers on high-acuity equipment can clear $130,000+ with travel and call premiums.