Engineer Technician vs Engineer?

Question

I have a few questions about college, specifically engineering. To start, I'm in my firat year at a 4 year liberal arts private college majoring in physics in hope to continue to a bachelor's or master's in engineering at another college. Recently, I've been hearing about the opportunity of being an electromechanical technician through a two year community college. I have interests in this because I would be in school for 1-3 years less than continuing with the engineering major and think I would rather be the doer of the operation instead.

My questions concerning this follow:

How do technicians and engineers differ?
Does abet accreditation for a technician make that big of a difference?
Is there possibility to become an engineer from a technician later on?
I've heard that engineers start with a higher opening salary, but technicians eventually surpass engineers with time, is there truth to this?
What route has a better opportunity to obtain a career?

Answer 1

Technician implements instructions and procedures provided by the engineer. The engineer is in responsible charge of the work performed by the technician. ABET accreditation is more important for the school and your ability to get financial aid. It is possible to become an engineer if you continue your education. Often technicians continue at a university while working for an employer who is willing to accommodate class schedules. Engineers have a more straight forward career path, especially to manager, who then can make two or more times the salary of even a very senior technician. A senior engineer may make at least 50 percent more salary then a senior technician. If you want to be the one that is called upon to solve problems, you should consider a path that leads to a professional license as an engineer. It is not unusual for those who got their B.Sc. in physics to continue onto grad school and obtain an engineering degree and practice as an engineer. As a graduate with a B.Sc. in physics you would be over trained as a technician.