Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician
If you enjoy solving problems through a practical, hands-on approach and contributing to the invention, manufacture, and repair of electrical and electronic equipment, then you should consider becoming either an electrical engineering technician or an electronics engineering technician.
Depending on your area and employer, you could be working on automation, communication, computer, medical monitoring, and other types of electrical and electronic equipment.
Electrical engineers design, develop, test, and supervise the manufacture of electrical equipment. Electronics engineers design and develop electronic equipment, including broadcast and communications systems.
Job Overview
Salary
Workplace
How to Start
Job Overview
What does an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician do?
Electrical & electronics engineering technicians test, evaluate, adjust and repair electrical and electronic equipment, the measuring tools and diagnostic devices you use could include current, voltage; and other electronic measuring probes; digital voltmeters (DVMs) and other voltage and current meters; and function generators. Of course, you will also use other, more general types of hand tools, such as wire strippers and power screwdrivers. Depending on your specific responsibilities, you might need to be facile with a range of software platforms.
Electrical engineers design, maintain, implement or improve upon electrical instruments, facilities, components, equipment products, or systems. They perform various engineering tasks by operating computer assisted design or engineering software and equipment. They meet with customers, engineers, and other relevant parties and discuss the existing or potential engineering products and projects and ensure that installation and operations conform to standards and customer requirements. They also estimate the material, labor, and construction costs, and assist in budget preparation.
Electronics engineers analyze customer needs to determine requirements, capacity, and cost to develop an electrical system plan. They evaluate systems and develop maintenance and testing procedures for specific electronic components and equipment. They recommend design modifications or equipment repairs where applicable. They inspect electronic equipment, instruments, and systems to ensure they meet safety standards and applicable regulations and develop applications and modifications for electronic properties to improve their technical performance.
Electrical Engineering Technicians:
Assemble, Install, & Maintain
Here’s your chance to assemble, install, and maintain electrical systems and equipment as well as help build and test prototypes of parts, assemblies, and even entire systems. Then, in collaboration with electrical engineers, you might work solve any performance issues the tests expose.
Project Management
Day-to-day duties of electrical engineering technicians include identifying solutions to technical design problems and building, calibrating, and repairing electrical instruments and testing equipment. Finally, you might prepare time estimates, draw diagrams, write and update specifications and installation procedures, and, later in your career, supervise support personnel.
Electronics Engineering Technicians:
Problem-Solving Skills
Electronics engineering technicians resolve equipment malfunctions, including securing replacement parts, and perform preventive maintenance on equipment and systems. You will need to spot needs, support customers on how to use the systems, identify and fix the cause of problems.
Fabrication Knowledge
Electronics engineering technicians often fabricate prototypes and parts, such as coils, terminal boards, or chassis based on your knowledge, blueprints, engineering instructions from engineers, manuals, and other inputs. You will use bench lathes, drills, and other machine tools – as well as drafting instruments & computer-aided design (CAD) equipment – to help fabricate these parts.
Salary
How much does an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician make?
The average annual salary for an Electrical and Electronics Engineering Technician in the United States is $60,843. Salaries can be as high as $95,500 and as low as $29,500, the majority of Electronics Engineering Technician salaries currently range between $46,000 (25th percentile) to $70,000 (75th percentile) with top earners (90th percentile) making $84,000 annually across the United States.
These are 2025 national salary averages and may fluctuate based on location.
Workplace
What does the workplace for an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician look like?
Typically electrical and electronics engineering technicians work closely with electrical and electronics engineers within an office setting, in factories or in laboratories. Working with electrical and electronic equipment, electrical and electronics engineering technicians may be exposed to toxic or hazardous materials or equipment. As long as the proper gear is worn and proper procedures are followed, hazardous incidents are rare.
Electrical and electronics engineering technicians will generally work a regular full-time work schedule unless for some reason overtime is needed.
Top Electrical Engineering Technician Employers:
- Engineering services
- Electric power generation, transmission and distribution
- Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing
- Research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences
- Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing
Top Electronics Engineering Technician Employers:
- Telecommunications
- Federal government, excluding postal service
- Semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing
- Engineering services
- Navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing
How to Start
How to become an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician?
The first step to becoming an electrical engineering technician is to earn an associate degree in electrical technology through an Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) approved program. Courses typically cover physics, circuitry, Java programming, microprocessors, ANSI C and C++ programming. Depending on your program, you may be able to choose a concentration in either communication electronics, industrial electronics or computer electronics.
While not a requirement, consider becoming certified through the National Institute for Certification in Engineering Technologies (NICET) to provide you with additional education. The NICET offers certifications in electrical power testing, which is helpful for those working in the electric power generation, distribution and transmission industries. To earn this certification, complete the NICET written exam, gain job-related experience and request an evaluation and letter of recommendation from a supervisor.
