Program equipment to perform production tasks.
Most of the output can be produced by software today.
Work that already happens inside a computer is the easiest to hand over, because the agent and the worker are operating in the same place. The constraint is permissions rather than capability: the agent needs its own scoped access, not a borrowed password.
| How automatable | Mostly automatable |
|---|---|
| Kind of work | Work done in software |
| Jobs that do it | 15 occupations |
| Tool categories that apply | Tools and auth, Builders, Generalist agents, Runtime and sandboxes |
| O*NET activity | Working with Computers (4.A.3.b.1) |
What could do this work.
These are the categories of tool that address work done in software, with a few live examples from our landscape. We name the category rather than promise that a specific product does your specific task, because that promise would not be true.
Tools and auth
Builders
Generalist agents
Runtime and sandboxes
Categories are matched from the kind of work, not from vendor marketing. Before committing to any of them, check that the tool can reach the system your record actually lives in. That connection, not the model, is where most of these projects stall.
Who does this work.
15 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.
- Cabinetmakers and Bench Carpenters
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Operators
- Computer Numerically Controlled Tool Programmers
- Fabric and Apparel Patternmakers
- Lathe and Turning Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Lighting Technicians
- Machinists
- Model Makers, Metal and Plastic
- Multiple Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Patternmakers, Metal and Plastic
- Prepress Technicians and Workers
- Printing Press Operators
- Textile Cutting Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Textile Knitting and Weaving Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
Work that goes with it.
O*NET groups these under “Program computer systems or production equipment”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.
| Activity | Jobs |
|---|---|
| Write computer programming code | 17 |
| Enter commands, instructions, or specifications into equipment | 8 |
| Program robotic equipment | 4 |
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.