Maintain computer equipment or software
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 | 10 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Repairing and Maintaining Electronic Equipment (4.A.3.b.5) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 10 occupations that perform it.
- Maintain cyber defense software or hardware to support responses to cyber incidents.
- Update client and server applications responsible for integration and business logic.
- Monitor database performance and perform any necessary maintenance, upgrades, or repairs.
- Develop and maintain Web sites for online courses.
- Maintain geographic information systems laboratories, performing duties such as updating software.
- Maintain hardware and software, including computers, media equipment, scanners, color copiers, and color laser printers.
- Maintain and troubleshoot problems with library equipment, including computers, photocopiers, and audio-visual equipment.
- Maintain computers in classrooms and laboratories, and assist students with hardware and software use.
- Implement and maintain configuration control systems.
- Maintain computer equipment used in instruction.
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
10 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Bioinformatics Technicians
- Blockchain Engineers
- Computer Science Teachers, Postsecondary
- Digital Forensics Analysts
- Geography Teachers, Postsecondary
- Librarians and Media Collections Specialists
- Library Technicians
- Special Effects Artists and Animators
- Teaching Assistants, Preschool, Elementary, Middle, and Secondary School, Except Special Education
- Teaching Assistants, Special Education
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Maintain electronic, computer, or other technical 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.