Operate communications 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 | 12 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | None |
| O*NET activity | Controlling Machines and Processes (4.A.3.a.3) |
What this looks like on the job
Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 12 occupations that perform it.
- Monitor and operate communications systems, such as mobile radios.
- Operate communication systems, such as telephone, switchboard, intercom, two-way radio, or public address.
- Observe signal lights on switchboards, and dial or press buttons to make connections.
- Transmit and receive messages, using telephones or telephone switchboards.
- Scan status charts and computer screens, and contact emergency response field units to determine emergency units available for dispatch.
- Oversee all communications within specifically assigned territories.
- Operate electronic mail systems and coordinate the flow of information, internally or with other organizations.
- Set up and operate short-wave radio or field telephone equipment to transmit and receive blast information.
- Inspect, adjust, or control radio equipment or airport lights.
- Operate audio and video systems.
- Operate equipment, such as truck cab computers, CB radios, phones, or global positioning systems (GPS) equipment to exchange necessary information with bases, supervisors, or other drivers.
- Operate ship-to-shore radios to exchange information needed for ship operations.
- Page individuals to inform them of telephone calls, using paging or interoffice communication equipment.
- Operate telephone switchboards and systems to advance and complete connections, including those for local, long distance, pay telephone, mobile, person-to-person, and emergency calls.
- Monitor various radio frequencies, such as those used by public works departments, school security, and civil defense, to stay apprised of developing situations.
- Place telephone calls or arrange conference calls as instructed.
- Monitor automated systems for placing collect calls and intervene for a callers needing assistance.
- Interrupt busy lines if an emergency warrants.
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
12 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Air Traffic Controllers
- Biomass Power Plant Managers
- Captains, Mates, and Pilots of Water Vessels
- Dispatchers, Except Police, Fire, and Ambulance
- Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters
- Flight Attendants
- Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers
- Hotel, Motel, and Resort Desk Clerks
- Public Safety Telecommunicators
- Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive
- Switchboard Operators, Including Answering Service
- Telephone Operators
Work that goes with it
O*NET groups these under “Operate communications equipment or systems”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Operate communications, transmissions, or broadcasting equipment | 8 |
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.