Pharmacy Technician University

Summary: Becoming a Pharmacy Technician isn’t that hard.  Many states allow you to train on the job rather than attend a school.  Don’t worry if you don’t have prior medical work experience – one of my best technicians was that way.  Your training and examination can be finished in as little as three to six months.

Question: How hard is it to become a pharmacy technician?  I’m 42 years old and have worked as an administrative assistant for pretty much all my working life.  I’m looking for a change.  I like the idea of a pharmacy technician because I don’t want to try to get into pharmacy school and the market seems to be good for technicians.  But I wanted to find out from someone who is in the field first.

Let’s take your question in chunks.

First of all, regarding the difficulty of becoming a pharmacy technician.  Over the last 10 years I’ve trained at least 6 pharmacy technicians.  One of them was from the ground up – not knowing anything about the medical field at all and within two years was one of the best technicians I ever had.  I hated to see her go.  So, I have to commend you because it doesn’t sound like you are letting your lack of previous medical experience scare you off from going for it and I hope that little example shows you that if you are willing to put in the time and effort you can certainly make it happen.

Which leads to the crux of your question: how hard is it?  Well, the technician I referred to above did eventually excel, but her first three months or so were pretty tough going because she had never seen the inside of a pharmacy let along be exposed to hundreds of brand and generic names, pharmacy systems or a dozen other little nuances that only happen in pharmacy.  So, I’d say it can get pretty intimidating right out of the bat if you have absolutely no experience.

I should preface this: each state has different requirements for their technicians.  My state allows us to take in candidates, train them and then, allow them to take the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) exam.  Once (and if) they pass they then received the initials CPhT (Certified Pharmacy Technician).  I think you’ll find most states follow this general process.  In short, you can’t become a true Pharmacy Technician until you pass this exam.  And you won’t get true Pharmacy Technician pay until you do.

Now, there are all sorts of schools – online and off – that purport to help you speed the process along.  Point blank: I don’t think any of them are really that helpful.  At least from the prices I’ve seen them charging.  You don’t need to pay hundreds of dollars (sometimes thousands) to go take classes then pass the test then go look for a job.  My advice is to reverse that and look for a job where you can get paid to train and learn.

Again, some states may not allow you to do it this way.  I can only speak for my experience and preference: and that is I’d rather have someone come to me cold off the street because while the first month or two might be rough – I’d be able to train them ‘my way’ with what I think are the important things to know about.

Which leads to my second major point and one of my favorite sayings regarding Pharmacy Technicians: ” a great pharmacy technician will make a bad job or day bearable.  A bad pharmacy technician will make a great job unbearable.”

In many ways I view my technicians as an extension of myself.  If I have to do a bunch of hand-holding 24/7 then it defeats the whole purpose of having a tech.  But, if I have a tech who is thinking a step ahead, who can pick up basic concepts quickly and is a fairly quick on the computer system then that’s something I can work with.  In short, you have to be willing to work hard and have some common sense.  Do you have those things?  If so, you can do decently as a Pharmacy Technician.

Salaries are all over the lot so you’ll simply have to look around in your area.  I would say that you’ll do better than you did as an administrative assistant – but you’ll never get rich doing it.  Top tier techs in my area can make $20 an hour or more.  But, this is very rare.  Fifteen bucks an hour is very doable.  Again, this will vary with geography.

When it’s all said and done I’ve been able to take techs from knowing zero on day one to passing their exam by day 90.  This may be faster than average but for sure you should be able to get your license by six months out.  And, you can do it without a big investment in time and money.  Hope that helps.

It seems that there are more and more online pharmacy technician courses popping up each week. And, as they do the questions I get seem to increase accordingly.

Obviously, some of the first questions that come to mind are: are they worth it? Do I recommend any courses in particular?

Before I start answering those let’s address a few issues first. And remember, I’ve written about these before but it bares repeating. Too often prospective pharmacy technicians assume that they have to go to to school or some technician program.

Not always true.

Many states (mine included) allow prospective pharmacy technicians to be trained on the job and then take the pharmacy certification exam.

So, don’t always assume that you have to go to school.

While I’m of the opinion that you don’t need any real specialized courses, you should base the decision on your personal situation and needs. If you decide that taking a course is a must, here is what I would recommend you look for in an online pharmacy technician program.

(1) Compare Costs of Online Pharmacy Technician Courses

You were probably already thinking of this before I even wrote it, but it certainly is the top of mind with almost any prospective technician is “how much will this cost me?”

And before you get the monetary amount you also need to think about a time cost.

How long do the courses take and how much free time of yours will be taken up with the courses? Secondly, how much free time are you willing to give up to make this a reality? Because it will likely take, in the end, months of your time.

With that being said some of the online programs I’ve looked at have been a little evasive about what they charge participants.

My first rule is it should be very clear about what it’s going to cost you before you ever sign on the dotted line.

What is a reasonable amount? Obviously, that is going to vary but I have seen costs online range from $2,000 to $4,000+ for most courses.

If the course is truly 100% online than there should be a significant discount from the schools regular tuition rate.

(2) Expected Timeline

Different schools use different forms of timelines. For example; one school may list you expected time as semesters. Another may list it as total hours to completion.

Frankly, total hours to completion is the best way to go because you can work at your own pace. And isn’t that one of the advantages of working with an online program? Most courses I’ve looked at assume 200 to 300 hours to complete your course work.

I wouldn’t recommend any course that requires you to take over 300 to 350 hours to complete your coursework. This is hard to explain in someways, but my basic premise behind this recommendation is that becoming a pharmacy technician should be kept as uncomplicated as possible. A total course time of 250 hours or so seems very reasonable. But beyond that it seems like the school may be adding hours just to make more money.

(3) What is your return on investment from your courses?

Unless you are required by your state laws to be taking any sort of pharmacy technician course you’ll want to ask yourself a very basic question: what will your return on investment be after taking a pharmacy technician course?

Simply stated try to get the most bang for your buck. I’ve seen various sites online who try to rate various online schools – or at least claim to. But, when you go to their sites it is basically just a depository of links to various schools.

I think it would be a lot more helpful to give you general guidelines in regard to helping you decide if pharmacy technician training is right for you personally. After the basics, maybe some reviews of various schools in future posts will help give you a better idea of whether or not a particular school is worth pursuing.

But, because there is a fair amount of money to be made in the online school arena a lot of sites simply gloss over whether a school is right for you or not and instead simply try to sell you on the idea of going.

My recommendation

Before you make any educational decision first find out what your state requires. I know I harp on this a lot but while book education is valuable I don’t know if it’s valuable if it’s not required by state law because you can get a lot of great education simply by learning on the job. Which is what my state allows.

If you do decide to attend an online, or even brick and mortar school, make sure you have the money to go and the time to put into the training. If you feel like that’s something you can commit to I would then approach some prospective employers and point blank ask them if there are any incentives once hired to having a formal pharmacy technician education. As someone who has hired pharmacy technicians in the past I can tell you that one advantage education brings to the table is that it gives you the feeling that the technician will be around longer than someone who wants to be trained on the job.

Why? Simple really. You’ve put in extra time and money that a lot of technicians simply aren’t willing to do. That alone can set you apart and put you on a faster track to a higher salary and quicker advancement.

A tough decision

The decision on whether or not to attend one of the many online pharmacy technician schools is a personal one and depends a great deal on your finances, time and the requirements of your state. Not to mention the return on investment you might get once you are in the work force.