Lay cables to connect equipment
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 | 6 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 6 occupations that perform it.
- Lay cable and hook up electrical connections between machines, power sources, and phone lines.
- Run appropriate power, ground, or coaxial cables.
- Run new speaker and electrical cables.
- Feed cables through access holes, roof spaces, or cavity walls to reach fixture outlets, positioning and terminating cables, wires, or strapping.
- Pull up cable by hand from large reels mounted on trucks.
- String cables between structures and lines from poles, towers, or trenches, and pull lines to proper tension.
- Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduit running through the trenches.
- Lay underground cable directly in trenches, or string it through conduits running through trenches.
- Pull cable through ducts by hand or with winches.
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
6 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Computer, Automated Teller, and Office Machine Repairers
- Electrical Power-Line Installers and Repairers
- Electronic Equipment Installers and Repairers, Motor Vehicles
- Radio, Cellular, and Tower Equipment Installers and Repairers
- Security and Fire Alarm Systems Installers
- Telecommunications Line Installers and Repairers
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Connect components or supply lines to equipment or tools”. 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.