If you are confused between both the fields, first let me clear the difference between them and will tell you their scope.

Biotechnology is a vast field which includes various topics like biochemistry, immunology, genetics, genetic engineering, microbiology, proteomics, etc. It provides you with a lot of choices to specify during further studies. However, biochemistry limits your study to the chemistry in living organisms. So, you will have fewer topics to choose to specify for higher studies.

An undergraduate with a major in biotechnology can do his/her masters has an option from a wide range of subjects like bioinformatics, immunology, cancer biology, genetics, biochemistry, microbiology, public health, etc to select from. However, a biochemistry student will have a limited number of subjects to choose from, such as medical biochemistry, toxicology, analytical chemistry, etc.

Biochemists perform research and analysis on normal processes happening inside the living cell like respiration, photosynthesis, apoptosis, etc., while biotechnologists research and create products like proteins which are used in factories.

Regarding jobs, a biochemist can easily get jobs easily at the medical diagnostic centre, disease centre, research labs, forensics labs, analytical chemistry labs, etc. A biotechnologist also may be employed by a lot of companies like food, beverages and medicines, etc . . A biotechnologist may have to master in specific fields during their masters/PhD level to be desirable for those jobs in some cases.

A biochemist has an average annual salary of $60,000 while a biotechnologist has an average annual salary of $70,000 in the US. In both cases, the salary depends on skills like molecular biology, research analysis, bioinformatics, etc. Also, with the increasing demand for the skill-set, the salary will increase accordingly.

Therefore, For those students who don’t enjoy chemistry very much, biochemistry would be a tough major as biochemistry includes a lot of chemistry, reactions, processes, and pathways. They can opt to biotechnology as there won’t be as much detailed biochemistry in biotechnology.

However, biotechnology will require having knowledge from a lot of fields like physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, communication skills, etc. So, you need to be creative enough to grasp concepts from different fields and apply them to your convenience to excel in biotechnology.

You can choose to study biotechnology if you are not sure of your area of interest during your undergraduate studies.