CAREER PROFILE

What does a Radiographer actually do?

The honest version — real salaries, real hours, real entry routes. From the CourseThread Career Atlas.

Starting salary — log in
Mid-career salary — log in
37.5 hrs
Typical week
AI: Medium
AI vulnerability

The short version

Radiographers produce the images — X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound — or deliver the radiotherapy that diagnoses and treats disease. Two degrees exist (diagnostic and therapeutic); both lead to HCPC registration.

The pitch: technology-forward clinical work on a published pay ladder, with specialisation (sonography, reporting) as the salary lever and imaging demand rising relentlessly. The honest catch: AI reads routine images well — the parts of the job that survive are physical, adaptive and accountable, so specialise rather than stay generic.

Entry routes that actually work

  • BSc diagnostic radiography (3 years) — the main route.
  • BSc therapeutic radiography (3 years) — the radiotherapy/oncology variant.
  • Pre-registration MSc / apprenticeship — for graduates or employed entrants.

Read the full guide — free

The complete Radiographer profile — salary by year, honest day-in-the-life, AI vulnerability breakdown, and the exit-path map — is in the Career Atlas. Log in to read it online or download the PDF.

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Free account. No card. The Atlas is free to read and download.

Inside the full guide

Money & progression — salary bands by level, sources cited
Day in the life — a real Tuesday, not the brochure version
AI vulnerability — what AI does, can't do, and how the role is changing
Exit paths — where people go at 2, 5, and 10 years

Compare with

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