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Things that raise your pay

• Instrument ownership

  Become the site expert on a chromatograph or a spectrometer. That person does not get laid off.

• Quality systems training

  Understanding accreditation standards moves you toward quality assurance roles.

• Good manufacturing practice training

  Opens pharmaceutical plant jobs, which pay above testing labs.

• Bridging to a degree

  Several universities give diploma graduates two years of credit toward a chemistry degree.