New Jersey·Architecture and Engineering Occupations·SOC 17-3029

Best Engineering Technologist programs in New Jersey, ranked by enrollment

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

11 schools in New Jersey run programs that feed this job, graduating 585 people a year. The job pays a median of $87,450 in New Jersey across about 880 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
585
in New Jersey
Median pay · New Jersey
$87,450
BLS OEWS May 2025
Jobs in state
880
people employed
Schools
11
with a feeder program
Avg graduation rate
51%
across those schools
Median net price
$26,378
per year, IPEDS

Fields of study in New Jersey that lead to this job

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

9 programs in New Jersey that lead to this job

Ranked by graduates per year in New Jersey (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 New Jersey page.

Degree programs that lead to this occupation, ranked by graduates per year
#ProgramGraduates / yrShare of pipelineSchoolsGrad earnings (1 yr)Median debt
1512
87.5%
5$36,407$10,250
243
7.4%
1$48,829$21,696
312
2.1%
1$50,625$21,717
45
0.9%
1$59,859$15,372
55
0.9%
1$48,829$21,696
64
0.7%
1$57,188$22,000
72
0.3%
2$63,554$17,750
81
0.2%
1$59,718$25,375
91
0.2%
1$63,554$17,750

Top 11 schools in New Jersey

Ranked by graduates per year into this job. Graduate earnings are reported for 3 of the 11 schools in this state.

Schools ranked by graduates per year into this occupation
#SchoolGraduates / yrTop feeder programGrad earnings (1 yr)Grad rateNet priceAcceptance
1Lincoln Technical Institute - Union
Union, NJ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
312Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$40,77875%$26,378
2Lincoln Technical Institute - Mahwah
Mahwah, NJ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
158Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician$40,77879%$29,877
3Rowan University
Glassboro, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
44Computer/Computer Systems Technology/Technician67%78%
4Eastwick College - Nutley
Nutley, NJ Private for-profit · 1 feeder programs
34Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician57%$19,014
5Essex County College
Newark, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
12Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians20%
6Sussex County Community College
Newton, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
9Laser and Optical Technology/Technician37%
7Raritan Valley Community College
Branchburg, NJ Public · 2 feeder programs
8Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician31%
8Hudson County Community College
Jersey City, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
5Computer Engineering Technology/Technician26%
9Mercer County Community College
West Windsor, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician25%
10New Jersey Institute of Technology
Newark, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Applied Engineering Technologies/Technicians$64,83173%65%
11Stockton University
Galloway, NJ Public · 1 feeder programs
1Energy Systems Technology/Technician69%89%

All 11 schools in New Jersey

Every school in New Jersey 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 New Jersey that feed this occupation
SchoolCityControlGraduates / yrFeeder programs
Lincoln Technical Institute - UnionUnionPrivate for-profit3121
Lincoln Technical Institute - MahwahMahwahPrivate for-profit1581
Rowan UniversityGlassboroPublic442
Eastwick College - NutleyNutleyPrivate for-profit341
Essex County CollegeNewarkPublic121
Sussex County Community CollegeNewtonPublic92
Raritan Valley Community CollegeBranchburgPublic82
Hudson County Community CollegeJersey CityPublic51
Mercer County Community CollegeWest WindsorPublic11
New Jersey Institute of TechnologyNewarkPublic11
Stockton UniversityGallowayPublic11

What engineering technologists and technicians earn in New Jersey

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

Median annual in New Jersey
$87,450
Mean annual
$89,800
Jobs in state
880
What the range looks like
10th pct$46,590Median$87,45090th pct$136,090
Versus the national median
+11.6%

U.S. median $78,350. New Jersey pays above the national figure.

Job concentration
0.53×

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

Metro areas in New Jersey

Atlantic City-Hammonton, NJ
$89,710median
30 jobs
Trenton-Princeton, NJ
$84,140median
60 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 New Jersey

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 New Jersey.

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 Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering Technology/Technician, which awarded 512 degrees in New Jersey in 2024-25, 87.5% 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 9 programs to this occupation. The largest are Environmental Control Technologies/Technicians, Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians, plus 3 more. Together they graduate about 585 people a year in New Jersey.

How much do engineering technologists and technicians earn in New Jersey?+

The median is $87,450 a year (BLS OEWS May 2025). That is 11.6% above 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 New Jersey?+

11 institutions in New Jersey reported graduates from at least one of the 9 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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