Surgical technologist is one of those jobs that’s expected to grow much faster than average over the next decade for two reasons. The first is simply that advancing medical technology and an aging population are going to expand the whole medical sector. The second is that tasks, as in many industries, are being handed down, or devolved. What three decades ago might have been done by a doctor, a decade ago by a specialist nurse, is now being done by a surgical technologist.

There are a variety of ways to train for this job, in the military, via vocational or technical schools, and the qualification can range from a certificate to a two year college degree. It’s likely, as has happened with other similar jobs in the past, that those with the college degree will have the best opportunities: it is also true that to progress further, at minimum a full four year college degree is likely to be required. They pay is good though for something requiring this little training: $34,000 on average for a 40 hour week.

As to our EQSQ personality tests, this is one of the few jobs in the medical field that does not require large amounts of empathy and so might be suitable for those with the male or balanced brain types. Almost all of the work takes place inside the operating theater or surgery, meaning that the patients will all be unconscious both when they arrive and when they leave. Systemizing behavior therefore becomes more important than the empathy needed in so many other areas of medicine.