According to the US Department of Labor, diet techs have a mean hourly wage of $14.04 or make $29,000 yearly. Large states such as California (wahoo!), Texas, New York, and Illinois have the highest employment rates for diet techs as of May 2011. The Dept of Labor predicts that demand for diet techs will increase, however from what I saw via job listings, openings for diet techs were rare. I'm wondering if the position has a low turnover rate? A branch of hospitals in Orange County got rid of the position altogether because (from what I was told) diet techs could not write diet orders and weren't needed in the hospital. The hospital system utilized RD's and diet aides. Although this particular hospital system did not utilize diet techs, some hospitals still do. Diet techs can be found outside of hospitals in facilities such as prisons, schools, restaurants, government organizations, and senior living too.
My goal is to transition from a diet aide to a diet tech if I don't get into a DI next year. Although I don't completely know all of the things a diet tech does, the position excites me. I like the idea of transitioning and familiarizing myself with all of the positions in the clinical dietetic field. My ideal situation goes like this: graduate (check), diet aide (check), diet tech, DI and/or Masters, RD/MS degree, and then CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator). Welp, that will only take 4 or so years if I'm lucky! I always come back to exhausting all that is offered in the magical world of nutrition. Anyways, how do you become a diet tech? Do you need an undergrad degree? No, not necessarily. Let me outline a couple of different routes that all reconvene at diet tech:
1. According to the CDR, "Completion of a two-year Associate degree granted by a U.S. regionally accredited college/university, completion of dietetic technician program requirements in an ACEND-accredited program.' Basically, complete a specific DTR program then take the exam.
2. Should you have an undergraduate degree in nutrition from an ACEND accredited DPD program (such as Cal Poly SLO) which according to the Academy includes "completion of an ACEND-accredited Dietetic Technician supervised practice," you are eligible to take the exam without the program described previously in #1. I think "supervised practice" refers to the clinical series at Cal Poly. So if you're like me, you are eligible to take the test once you have your degree. This doesn't mean you are eligible the day after you graduate. You need degree verification, which in my case took about 3 months after I graduated. Once your degree had been verified, the DPD director at your school can input your name to the CDR (Commission on Dietetic Registration).
The CDR will contact you about 2 weeks you're considered eligible. I was contacted about a week after. I received an email (today actually) saying I was an eligible candidate for the exam and I would be emailed by the CDR's testing agency about payment and scheduling. The test is multiple choice and costs $120. The CDR offers a study guide with a practice exam for an additional $65. I want to ask around and see if other people found the study guide helpful.
According to the CDR the test covers: Food and Nutrition Sciences, Nutrition Care Process and Model, Counseling, Education and Training, Foodservice Systems, and Management. The exam itself is computerized so you leave knowing if you passed. It also means you can't go back to change answers. According to the CDR website, there are 225 approved test sites in the nation that are open Monday through Friday. The sites offer the test year round. The amount of questions on the exam can vary according to the CDR, "The examination will be variable length. Each examinee will be given, and must receive, a minimum of one hundred and ten (110) questions; eighty (80) scored questions and thirty (30) pretest questions in order for the examination to be scored. The maximum number of questions possible is one hundred and thirty (130); one hundred scored questions and thirty (30) unscored pretest questions." It would appear the pretest questions are necessary for the whole exam to be scored? Interesting. Interesting meaning, I don't really understand! In order to pass the CDR says "The scaled score required to pass the examination will remain twenty-five (25) on a scale of one (1) to fifty (50)." Does that mean you only need a 50%? Uhhh what?? I do know that should you fail, you may take the test again 45 days after and repay the $120 fee.
Since I have gotten the ball rolling on the exam, I need to step up my studying. I have a study guide a teacher emailed me from another student that I have worked on this summer. However, I haven't been working on it diligently since I've been playing the waiting game with my degree. The exam covers information I learned while an undergrad, however I have forgotten a lot of it. I wish I had paid a lot more attention in my institutional food service and management classes though!
Dept of Labor: http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes292051.htm
CDR website: http://www.cdrnet.org/certifications/rddtr/cbtfaq.cfm (map image also taken from CDR)
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