Water lab assistant
| Highest | $3,000 / mo · United States |
|---|---|
| Experience | 0–1 yrs |
| Degree | Required |
| First paycheck | 3 to 4 years of bachelor's study |
Pay in the destination countries
Monthly, in US dollars. Each country is an Imora admission package — open one for that route's fees, language requirement and deadline.
| Country | Monthly |
|---|---|
| United StatesTOEFL 80–100 · $10–70k | $3,000max |
| AustraliaIELTS 6.0–6.5 · AUD 30–50k | $2,800 |
| SwitzerlandIELTS 6.5 · CHF 0.9–8k | $2,750 |
| CanadaIELTS 6.0–6.5 · CAD 20–40k | $2,750 |
| NorwayIELTS 6.0–6.5 · NOK 130–260k | $2,700 |
| Hong KongIELTS 6.0–6.5 · HK–200k | $2,700 |
What does the day look like?
The working day is centred in the laboratory: logging incoming seawater, plankton and sediment samples, filtering and preserving them, and measuring pH, salinity, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll and nutrients. Core duties include preparing reagents, calibrating probes, running spectrophotometers, autoanalysers, microscopes and balances, entering results into LIMS or Microsoft Excel, and writing chain-of-custody notes. Named instruments include CTD rosette bottles, Niskin bottles, SEAL nutrient autoanalysers, YSI multiparameter sondes, and ESRI ArcGIS for sample locations.
About 91% of surveyed workers report a 40 hours week. The imagined boat-based oceanography takes up only a small share of the role; bench work, washing glassware, labelling and data entry dominate. Field and boat sampling trips happen monthly rather than daily. Shift work is limited, though early starts for boat runs, weekend rotas for live cultures, and on-call callouts for pollution events do occur.
Where does this lead?
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