Careers In Electronics Logo

Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technicians

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.

Electronics Engineer Tech

What does an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician do?

Electronics Engineer
Electronics Engineer

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.

Engineering Systems or Field Technician

The field systems technician handles the diagnostics, servicing, and repairs of the company’s equipment on site. You will be in charge of troubleshooting, testing, servicing, and repairing the technical equipment. You will also document processes and in turn, provide detailed service reports. Plus, you will share the information across the organization and cooperate with the technical teams. As a field system technician, you will give appropriate recommendations on diagnostics, repairs, and equipment specifications. You will also safely operate vehicles and machinery by following the standard safety procedures and protocols.

Fiber Optics Specialist

As a fiber optic technician, or fiber network technician, you are responsible for installing and maintaining fiber optic networks. Fiber optics are used to transfer data for a variety of purposes, like phone, cable television, and internet. Fiber optic technicians work in commercial and residential settings, installing new fiber optic lines and making repairs to existing networks. You may also be responsible for setting up equipment, like modems, or helping clients establish email accounts.

Instrumentation Specialist

Most instrumentation technicians work for manufacturing plants, making sure that equipment is working properly, safely, and efficiently. As an instrumentation technician, you will test, calibrate, install, repair, and inspect manufacturing equipment and monitoring devices. You’ll also perform general maintenance on the equipment and design new measuring and recording equipment. You may collect environmental data and monitor the pollution output of the plant.

 

On a typical day, you will work with scientific and analytic computer software, calculators, voltage and current meters, and electronic probes to diagnose faults in circuitry.

Automation Control

Automation control technicians are in charge of monitoring automated systems, performing maintenance checks, and handling repairs or replacements as needed. They work in almost any industry that uses automated systems in operations, but the industries with the most job opportunities are manufacturing, industrial, and food processing.

The typical day of an automation control technician revolves around checking and maintaining systems. If they find a problem, they are responsible for troubleshooting the issue and deciding if it has something to do with the electrical, mechanical, or computer components. 

Salary

Salary

The estimated total pay for a electrical and electronic engineering technician is $64,153 per year.

0 - 1 Years

Electrical and electronic engineering technician's with 0 - 1 years experience earn on average:

 
$58,907 per year
Industry Breakdown

Federal government - $76,130

Navigational, measuring, & electromedical - $61,500

Engineering services - $61,180

Semiconductor  - $60,770

Merchant wholesalers - $60,590

4 - 6 Years

Electrical and electronic engineering technician's with 4 - 6 years experience earn on average:

 
$67,086 per year

These are 2021 national salary averages and may fluctuate based on location.

What does the workplace for an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician look like?

Learn More

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 Become an Electrical & Electronics Engineering Technician?

Electrical Engineer

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.

Similar Careers

Sources:
BLS.gov, 2022 | Canva.com, 2022 | Career Explorer, 2022 | Glassdoor.com, 2022 | Indeed.com, 2022 | Learn.org, 2022 | Zippia.com, 2022 | Ziprecruiter.com, 2022

Subscribe to become an industry insider!

© 2023 Careers In Electronics

Powered by IPC Education Foundation

Terms & Conditions

Facebook Instagram Twitter Linkedin