What kind of work is this?

It is physical, manual and inspection work. O*NET files it under the work activity "Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials" (element 4.A.1.b.2).

Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment

Q: Which jobs involve test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment?

30 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity, including Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians, Aerospace Engineers, Agricultural Engineers, Automotive Engineering Technicians, Automotive Engineers.

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.

Key facts about this work activity
How automatable	Barely automatable
Kind of work	Physical, manual and inspection work
Jobs that do it	30 occupations
Tool categories that apply	None
O*NET activity	Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials (4.A.1.b.2)

What this looks like on the job

Not our paraphrase. These are real task statements recorded against this activity, spread across the 30 occupations that perform it.

Develop and execute tests that simulate the techniques of known cyber threat actors.
Plan or conduct experimental, environmental, operational, or stress tests on models or prototypes of aircraft or aerospace systems or equipment.
Test agricultural machinery and equipment to ensure adequate performance.
Build, test, and modify product prototypes, using working models or theoretical models constructed with computer simulation.
Test tags or labels to ensure readability.
Operate testing equipment, such as heat stress meters, octave band analyzers, motion analysis equipment, inclinometers, light meters, thermoanemometers, sling psychrometers, or colorimetric detection tubes.
Check, test, and maintain automatic controls and alarm systems.
Conduct research that tests or analyzes the feasibility, design, operation, or performance of equipment, components, or systems.
Conduct or direct system-level automotive testing.
Conduct tests of nuclear fuel behavior and cycles or performance of nuclear machinery and equipment to optimize performance of existing plants.
Test machinery and equipment to ensure that it is safe and conforms to performance specifications.
Implement or test design solutions.
Conduct harsh environmental testing, accelerated aging, device characterization, or field trials to validate devices, using inspection tools, testing protocols, peripheral instrumentation, or modeling and simulation software.
Analyze, fabricate, or test fiber-optic links.
Build, configure, or test robots or robotic applications.
Design or conduct tests of new nanotechnology products, processes, or systems.
Test aircraft systems under simulated operational conditions, performing systems readiness tests and pre- and post-operational checkouts, to establish design or fabrication parameters.
Set up and operate specialized or standard test equipment to diagnose, test, or analyze the performance of electronic components, assemblies, or systems.

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.

Our pickBuy nothing

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.

Research an account firstGenerate a one-page account brief before every call so you spend the meeting on what matters, not what Google already knows.Sales · 8 steps Answer inbound leads in a minuteAcknowledge every form submission in under sixty seconds and ask one qualifying question while you sleep.Sales · 9 steps

Who does this work

30 occupations in the O*NET database perform this activity. Each one has a full breakdown of its other tasks.

Work that goes with it

O*NET groups these under “Test performance of equipment or systems”. In practice they tend to be done by the same person, in the same sitting.

Related work activities
Activity	Jobs
Test mechanical equipment to ensure proper functioning	29
Test electrical equipment or systems to ensure proper functioning	21
Conduct test runs of production equipment	16
Test electrical circuits or components for proper functioning	16
Test mechanical systems to ensure proper functioning	8
Measure equipment outputs	6
Test communications equipment to ensure proper functioning	3
Test performance of aircraft equipment	3

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.