Install electrical components, equipment, or systems
Little of this can be handed to software today.
This happens in the physical world, so software agents do not touch it. Automation here means robotics and machinery, which is a different market from the one mapped on this site, on a much slower clock.
| How automatable | Barely automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Physical, manual and inspection work |
| Jobs that do it | 18 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Handling and Moving Objects (4.A.3.a.2) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 18 occupations that perform it.
- Install electrical cables or wire fixtures.
- Assemble, install, test, or maintain electrical or electronic wiring, equipment, appliances, apparatus, or fixtures, using hand tools or power tools.
- Insert sealing strips, wiring, insulating material, ladders, flanges, gauges, or valves, depending on types of structures being assembled.
- Install module array interconnect wiring, implementing measures to disable arrays during installation.
- Perform semi-skilled and unskilled laboring duties related to the installation, maintenance and repair of a wide variety of electrical systems and equipment.
- Connect electrical wiring to control panels and electric motors.
- Handle high voltage sources and hang electrical cables.
- Update existing equipment, performing tasks such as installing updated circuit boards or additional memory.
- Install all necessary transmission equipment components, including antennas or antenna mounts, surge arrestors, transmission lines, connectors, or tower-mounted amplifiers (TMAs).
- Assemble and install communication equipment such as data and telephone communication lines, wiring, switching equipment, wiring frames, power apparatus, computer systems, and networks.
- Install electrical and electronic components, assemblies, and systems in aircraft, using hand tools, power tools, or soldering irons.
- Install new fuses, electrical cables, or power sources as required.
- Install repaired equipment in various settings, such as industrial or military establishments.
- Mount and fasten control panels, door and window contacts, sensors, or video cameras, and attach electrical and telephone wiring to connect components.
- Assemble and install electrical, plumbing, mechanical, hydraulic, and structural components and accessories, using hand or power tools.
- Install, inspect and test electric meters, relays, and power sources to detect causes of malfunctions and inaccuracies, using hand tools and testing equipment.
- Install electrical assemblies and wiring in aircraft camera housings and memory cards or film in cameras, following blueprints and using hand tools and soldering equipment.
- Assemble, install, or repair wiring, electrical or electronic components, pipe systems, plumbing, machinery, or equipment.
What we would actually use
Nothing in our landscape addresses this work. That is the honest answer rather than a padded list: this activity needs a person present, or a machine rather than a software agent.
Nothing on this site applies. Automation here is robotics and machinery, a different market on a much slower clock, and no software subscription moves it.
Chosen for the cheapest thing that does the job, not the best funded. Nothing on this site is sponsored, and the full landscape is there when you want to disagree with us.
How people actually do it
No workflow names this activity yet, but these automate the same kind of work, with the prompts to paste and what to keep for yourself.
Who does this work
18 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Aircraft Mechanics and Service Technicians
- Avionics Technicians
- Camera and Photographic Equipment Repairers
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers
- Control and Valve Installers and Repairers, Except Mechanical Door
- Electrical and Electronics Installers and Repairers, Transportation Equipment
- Electrical and Electronics Repairers, Commercial and Industrial Equipment
- Electricians
- Elevator and Escalator Installers and Repairers
- Helpers--Electricians
- Lighting Technicians
- Loading and Moving Machine Operators, Underground Mining
- Maintenance and Repair Workers, General
- Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
- Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers
- Solar Photovoltaic Installers
- Structural Iron and Steel Workers
- Telecommunications Equipment Installers and Repairers, Except Line Installers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Install commercial or production equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
Method. The activity, its taxonomy placement and the occupations that perform it come straight from the public-domain O*NET 30.3 database. The automatability band is ours: we map each of O*NET’s 41 generalized work activities to how much of its output current software can produce, assuming a person still reviews and owns the result. It is a coarse three-way judgment on purpose. A precise-looking percentage here would be invented.