Nebraska·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3029

Best Engineering Technologist programs in Nebraska, ranked by enrollment

All engineering technologists and technicians, except drafters, not listed.

4 schools in Nebraska run programs that feed this job, graduating 44 people a year. The job pays a median of $67,200 in Nebraska across about 260 jobs (BLS OEWS May 2025).

Also calledFiber Optics InstructorLaser Technician (Laser Tech)Optics Technician (Optics Tech)Photonics Technician (Photonics Tech)NDT Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Specialist)NDT Technician (Non-Destructive Testing Technician)NDE Technician (Non-Destructive Evaluation Technician)NDT Technical Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Technical Specialist)
Graduates / yr
44
in Nebraska
Median pay · Nebraska
$67,200
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
260
people employed
Schools
4
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
48%
across those schools
Median net price
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in Nebraska that lead to this job

Grouped at the 4-digit CIP level. Numbers are graduates per year in this state.

2 programs in Nebraska that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in Nebraska (IPEDS completions). Graduate earnings and debt are national College Scorecard figures reported at the 4-digit CIP level, so specializations within one field share a figure. Each program also links to its own Nebraska page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1
CIP 15.1701In Nebraska
41
93.2%
3$63,554$17,750
2
CIP 15.0001In Nebraska
3
6.8%
1$59,718$25,375

Top 4 schools in Nebraska

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 1 of the 4 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Central Community College
Grand Island, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
17Energy Systems Technology/Technician48%
2Southeast Community College Area
Lincoln, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
15Energy Systems Technology/Technician$104,84738%
3Northeast Community College
Norfolk, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
9Energy Systems Technology/Technician56%
4Wayne State College
Wayne, NE Public · 1 feeder programs
3Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians52%

All 4 schools in Nebraska

Every school in Nebraska with a program that feeds this job, ordered by graduates per year. Earnings are shown for the ranked schools above; open a school profile for the rest.

All schools in Nebraska that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Central Community CollegeGrand IslandPublic171
Southeast Community College AreaLincolnPublic151
Northeast Community CollegeNorfolkPublic91
Wayne State CollegeWaynePublic31

What engineering technologists and technicians earn in Nebraska

What people already working in this job earn (BLS OEWS May 2025). Not graduate earnings.

Median annual in Nebraska
$67,200
Mean annual
$70,520
Jobs in state
260
What the range looks like
10th pct$46,900Median$67,20090th pct$97,070
Versus the national median
-14.2%

U.S. median $78,350. Nebraska pays below the national figure.

Job concentration
0.66×

1.00× means the state has its expected share of these jobs.

Metro areas in Nebraska

Omaha, NE-IA
$74,600median
160 jobs
Lincoln, NE
$61,110median
40 jobs

Job outlook

Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Projections, 2024 to 2034.

Projected growth 2024–34
+1.5%
Little or no change
Openings per year
5,700
new jobs plus replacements
Employment change
1,000
67,300 → 68,300
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Growth and openings are national. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not publish employment projections at state level, so these figures describe the occupation across the whole U.S., not this state alone.

How to get in

The full skills, tools, and day-to-day breakdown lives on the national Engineering Technologists and Technicians page.

How to become a Engineering Technologist

Job zone 2 of 5 · SVP Below 6.0
Typical entry education
Associate's degree

Usually requires a high school diploma or GED, though some occupations may not.

Some occupations may need little or no previous experience; others require several months to a year of experience. For example, landscaping and groundskeeping workers might require very little training or previous experience, while agricultural equipment operators can benefit from on-the job training.

Ranges from a few days to one year of on-the-job training.

Top skills

Reading ComprehensionActive ListeningCritical ThinkingMonitoringActive LearningWriting

The same job in other states

Where else this occupation employs the most people, and what it pays there.

Related careers in Nebraska

Every major mapped to this job

The official federal mapping behind the rankings above.

All 25 majors mapped to Engineering Technologists and Technicians25 of them graduated someone in the latest IPEDS year. NCES CIP 2020 → SOC 2018 crosswalk.+
  • 15.0001Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.0101Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians
  • 15.0304Laser and Optical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0307Audio Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0401Biomedical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0501Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0599Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Other
  • 15.0607Plastics and Polymer Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0611Metallurgical Technology/Technician
  • 15.0614Welding Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0615Chemical Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0617Composite Materials Technology/Technician
  • 15.0806Marine Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0807Motorsports Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.0901Mining Technology/Technician
  • 15.1103Hydraulics and Fluid Power Technology/Technician
  • 15.1201Computer Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.1202Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician
  • 15.1203Computer Hardware Technology/Technician
  • 15.1204Computer Software Technology/Technician
  • 15.1299Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other
  • 15.1401Nuclear Engineering Technology/Technician
  • 15.1503Packaging Science
  • 15.1701Energy Systems Technology/Technician
  • 15.1702Power Plant Technology/Technician

Common questions

Answers for people weighing engineering technologists and technicians programs in Nebraska.

What degree do you need to become an Engineering Technologist?+

Associate's degree is the typical entry-level education BLS reports for this occupation. The most common program people actually graduate from is Energy Systems Technology/Technician, which awarded 41 degrees in Nebraska in 2024-25, 93.2% of everyone graduating from a program that feeds this career.

Which college majors lead to becoming an Engineering Technologist?+

The NCES CIP-to-SOC crosswalk maps 2 programs to this occupation. The largest are Energy Systems Technologies/Technicians, Engineering Technologies/Technicians. Together they graduate about 44 people a year in Nebraska.

How much do engineering technologists and technicians earn in Nebraska?+

The median is $67,200 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 14.2% below the U.S. median of $78,350. This is pay for people already working in the occupation, not the same thing as graduate earnings one year after finishing a degree.

Is demand for engineering technologists and technicians growing?+

BLS projects a +1.5% change in employment between 2024 and 2034, little or no change, with roughly 5,700 openings a year nationally once retirements and job changes are counted.

How many schools offer programs for this career in Nebraska?+

4 institutions in Nebraska reported graduates from at least one of the 2 programs that feed this occupation in IPEDS 2024-25. Rankings on this page use graduates per year, because the federal data publishes no enrollment count by program.

What other job titles do engineering technologists and technicians work under?+

Employers advertise this work under many names. O*NET records Fiber Optics Instructor, Laser Technician (Laser Tech), Optics Technician (Optics Tech), Photonics Technician (Photonics Tech), NDT Specialist (Non-Destructive Testing Specialist), NDT Technician (Non-Destructive Testing Technician) among the most commonly reported, all mapping to SOC 17-3029.

Engineering Technologists and Technicians in other statesFloridaTexasCaliforniaMichiganOhioNew YorkNorth CarolinaIllinois

About the data on this page

Rankings use IPEDS completions 2024–25, degrees awarded per year. That is the closest federal measure of how many people a program puts into a career, because no federal dataset publishes enrollment by program. Wages and employment come from BLS OEWS May 2025, growth and openings from BLS Employment Projections 2024-34, and which majors lead to which jobs from the NCES CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk. Occupation descriptions, tasks, skills and tools are O*NET 30.3 (CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor/ETA).

  • BLS Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics

    May 2025

    Wages, employment counts, location quotients and metro breakdowns.

  • BLS Employment Projections

    2024–34

    Projected growth, annual openings and typical entry-level education.

  • IPEDS Completions

    2024-25 (provisional)

    Graduates per year by program and institution — the ranking metric.

  • College Scorecard, Field of Study

    2020-21 cohorts

    Median graduate earnings one year after completion, and median debt.

  • Census Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes

    latest available

    Graduate earnings 1/5/10 years out, where the state participates.

  • NCES CIP 2020 and the CIP-to-SOC 2018 crosswalk

    CIP 2020 / SOC 2018

    Which college programs officially lead to this occupation.

  • O*NET Database 30.3

    30.3

    Tasks, skills, knowledge, tools, job zone and alternate job titles.

    Official source →CC BY 4.0, U.S. Department of Labor / ETA

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