💡 Why it matters: X-rays, CT and MRI scans are now central to diagnosis, and hospitals everywhere need trained people to run them.
🌍 Around the world
- Nigeria: More Nigerian hospitals are installing X-ray, CT and MRI scanners and need trained operators.
💰 What it can pay
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Starting out
- ₦1.8M – ₦4M
- Mid-career
- ₦4M – ₦9M
- Senior
- ₦9M – ₦20M
≈ ₦333k – ₦750k a month mid-career. Indicative estimate by Incusim.
🇺🇸 United States
Radiologic and MRI technologists. Median pay; low and high are the 10th and 90th percentiles. US Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025
🇨🇦 Canada
Medical radiation technologist. Hourly wage low/median/high x 2,080 hours. Job Bank (Government of Canada), 2023-2024
Yearly pay before tax. UK, US and Canada figures come from the official sources named on each card. Nigeria has no official salary survey, so those are our indicative estimates. Real pay depends on the employer, the place, your skills and experience.
🛠️ What you actually do
- Take X-ray, CT and MRI images
- Position patients safely and kindly
- Protect patients and staff from radiation
- Make sure scans are clear enough to read
- Work with radiologists who interpret the images
⚡ Skills you'll need
- Attention to detail
- Technical skill
- Communication
- Safety awareness
- Empathy
Get ready at school
🇳🇬 Nigeria
- Postgraduate training in MRI, CT or ultrasound
- Medical Physics degree is a related route
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- Diagnostic radiographer degree apprenticeship (level 6)
- Start as a radiography assistant, then study for the degree
🇺🇸 United States
- Hospital-based certificate programmes
- Military and community college training routes
🇨🇦 Canada
- Further training in MRI, CT or ultrasound
- Programme length varies by province
🗺️ Your path to this career
- 1Study Physics, Biology and Mathematics in school
- 2Take a radiography degree (usually 3 to 5 years)
- 3Complete supervised clinical training or an internship
- 4Register with your country's professional body or licensing board
- 5Specialise in CT, MRI or ultrasound
⏰ A day in the life
You gently position a child for a chest X-ray, make sure her parent is behind the lead shield, and take the image. After that you scan a patient in the CT machine and send the images to the radiologist.