Maintain electronic 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 | 9 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 9 occupations that perform it.
- Maintain and repair materials, work sites, and equipment.
- Engineer, install, maintain, or repair security systems, programmable logic controls, or other security-related electronic systems.
- Design, implement, maintain, or improve electrical instruments, equipment, facilities, components, products, or systems for commercial, industrial, or domestic purposes.
- Install, test, or maintain radio frequency identification device (RFID) systems.
- Check, test, and maintain automatic controls and alarm systems.
- Modify, maintain, or repair electronics equipment or systems to ensure proper functioning.
- Modify, maintain, or repair electrical, electronic, or mechanical components, equipment, or systems to ensure proper functioning.
- Adjust or maintain equipment, such as lasers, laser systems, microscopes, oscilloscopes, pulse generators, power meters, beam analyzers, or energy measurement devices.
- Operate and maintain audio-visual equipment.
- Replace defective components or parts, using hand tools and precision instruments.
- Repair or calibrate products, such as surgical lasers.
- Assemble, test, or maintain circuitry or electronic components, according to engineering instructions, technical manuals, or knowledge of electronics, using hand or power tools.
- Install or maintain electrical control systems, industrial automation systems, or electrical equipment, including control circuits, variable speed drives, or programmable logic controllers.
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
9 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
- Electrical Engineers
- Electro-Mechanical and Mechatronics Technologists and Technicians
- Environmental Compliance Inspectors
- Library Assistants, Clerical
- Marine Engineers and Naval Architects
- Photonics Technicians
- Radio Frequency Identification Device Specialists
- Security Management Specialists
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.