There are lots of opportunities out there now for people who are trained as surgical technicians. This job category is expected to grow by 25% over the next six years. Last year there were over 90,000 working surgical technicians in the U.S.

The average annual salary for surgical technicians in 2008 was $40,070 and those in the top 10% earned an average of $54,300.

The technicians working in hospitals -- the bulk of people, over 62,000 technicians - earned an average of $39,770. Those relatively few who worked outside of hospitals in offices of other health practitioners earned an average of $54,710 but there were only about 500 of these positions across the country.