Improve your salary prospects, and become a veterinary technician. According to the Bureau of Labor, there is a trend for employers to prefer more highly trained veterinary technicians to their less well-educated colleagues, veterinary assistants.

As a veterinary technician, you will have been trained to a higher level, so your responsibilities will be greater and your clinical expertise may be more valuable to a veterinarian. You may be expected to carry out routine sampling, tests, and procedures, freeing up valuable time for a veterinarian to spend on more specialized work. Clearly, the more highly trained you are, the more duties you can take over and the more time you can save for your employer.

Veterinary technician salaries are commensurate with experience and education, and tend to be higher in more established or profitable industries. Remember also that your area of residence will generally affect your veterinary technician salary, as higher cost of living typically goes hand in hand with higher salary.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor, median annual salary of veterinary technologists and technicians was $23,340 in 2003. The middle 50 percent earned between $19,550 and $28,330. The bottom 10 percent earned less than $16,410, and the top 10 percent earned more than $34,380.

The vast majority of veterinary technicians were employed within veterinary services. The best paying industry however is the pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing services industry, at an annual mean veterinary technician salary of $35,510. State government comes a close second offering annual average veterinary technician salaries of $35,050.

These sectors generally use laboratory animals and therefore need veterinary technicians to be even more highly trained. The Bureau of Labor states that employers recommend American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) certification for those vet techs seeking employment in a research facility.