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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3114

Electronics engineering technicians

AI can draft the circuit. Testing the prototype is still bench work.

Drawing circuit blueprints is the one task AI could take a fair chunk of. Estimating costs, testing systems and checking installations are mostly out of its reach.

What they actually do (and what else they get called)

Electronics engineering technicians perform technical tasks to aid in electronic research and in the design, manufacture, assembly, construction, operation, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment. Tasks include - (a) providing technical assistance in research and development of electronic equipment, or testing prototypes; (b) designing and preparing blueprints of electronic circuitry according to the specifications given; (c) preparing detailed estimates of quantities and costs of materials and labour required for the manufacture and installation of electronic equipment, according to the specifications given; (d) monitoring technical aspects of the manufacture, utilization, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment to ensure satisfactory performance and ensure compliance with specifications and regulations; (e) assisting in the design, development, installation, operation and maintenance of electronic systems; (f) planning installation methods, checking completed installations for safety and controls or undertaking the initial running of the new electronic equipment or system; (g) conducting tests of electronic systems, collecting and analysing data, and assembling circuitry in support of electronics engineers. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Electronics engineering technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Electrical engineering technician - 3113 - Telecommunications engineering technician - 3522 - Electronics mechanic - 7421 - Electronic equipment assembler - 8212

  • electronics engineering technician

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

62 / 100

Mostly holds up against AI

AI can take a few chores off your plate, but most of the day is still yours.

Not the odds you keep your job. It's how much of the everyday work still needs a person, out of 100.

← Robot's turf Human's turf →

The ILO's official verdict: Minimal Exposure

311 of 427 for holding up against AI

Why this score?

The ILO rated each of this job's 7 tasks for how much of it AI could do. They average 38 out of 100, so it holds up at 100 − 38 = 62.

That's the whole sum. No black box, no secret sauce: you can check it against the ILO's study. ILO group “Minimal Exposure”: A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't.

This job rates 49.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Man v Bot · compare

Who holds up better?

Electronics engineering technicians 62

v

Go on, try your partner's job. Or your sibling's. We won't tell.

Man v Bot

Where the bot helps, and where the human wins

Bot

What AI takes

The routine stuff. You may not miss it.

  • Circuit design and layout.
  • Cost estimates.
  • Test data analysis.

Man

What people still do better

Judgement, trust and skilled hands. Hard to download.

  • Testing prototypes.
  • Assembling and troubleshooting circuits.
  • Installing systems.

Both

What's arriving

New work that only exists because the AI does.

  • AI-assisted circuit design.
  • Electronics for EVs and renewables.
  • Sensors and IoT devices.

Written by a human, from the ILO's task ratings below. Yes, we see the irony. Read it as one person's take.

Meet your two rivals

They're not the same machine. AI software can only reach the parts of a job done on a screen or in words. A chatbot can't climb a ladder. A robot might, one day, if it doesn't fall off.

The AI

Lives in a screen. Never had to fix a boiler.

Threat level: Medium

47 could do without you

It could take over some of the work, and help with more. It could help with 74 of 100.

The robot

The wildcard. Has hands, still working out stairs.

How much it matters here: Some

49 how hands-on

A fair part of this job is hands-on, so robots would be needed for that part, not just software.

So could a robot do the physical part?

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

Robots hate fiddly work in awkward spaces. On that measure, this job scores 35 out of 100. The higher it is, the longer the robot waits.

49 How
hands-on
35 How fiddly
and cramped

Kind of hands-on work Less than half hands-on

The small print

They aren't a robot score, and nothing on this page is. Nobody measures how far robots have got well enough to put a number on it. These are the closest thing we have: how hands-on the job is, and how much fiddly, cramped work it takes, which is what Frey and Osborne found hardest for machines.

From O*NET, matched to one US job .

finger skill 44.6 · hand skill 42.9 · cramped spaces 17.5 · averaged · rule: hands-on under 50

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.8-observed-use measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

The job, task by task

Every job is really a bundle of tasks. Here's this one unpacked, with how much of each AI could do, out of 100. The score is the average, and averages can hide a lot.

AI's favourite task here scores 58, against an average of 38. The bigger the gap, the more lopsided the job: some of it wide open to AI, some of it barely touched.

  1. 57

    Designing and preparing blueprints of electronic circuitry according to the specifications given

    Medium
  2. 46

    Preparing detailed estimates of quantities and costs of materials and labour required for the manufacture and installation of electronic equipment, according to the specifications given

    Low
  3. 35

    Monitoring technical aspects of the manufacture, utilization, maintenance and repair of electronic equipment to ensure satisfactory performance and ensure compliance with specifications and regulations

    Low
  4. 35

    Assisting in the design, development, installation, operation and maintenance of electronic systems

    Low
  5. 34

    Providing technical assistance in research and development of electronic equipment, or testing prototypes

    Low
  6. 33

    Conducting tests of electronic systems, collecting and analysing data, and assembling circuitry in support of electronics engineers.

    Low
  7. 25

    Planning installation methods, checking completed installation for safety and controls or undertaking the initial running of the new electronic equipment or system

    Low

7 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.8-observed-use

Sidekick or replacement?

A tool that makes you faster is a very different thing from one that does the task while you watch. Jobs and Skills Australia measured the two separately, which is handy.

AI helps you
74
AI does it for you
47

Sidekick wins, by 27 points.

How good a match is this?

One Australian job matches this one closely, so this is about as reliable as it gets here.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.8-observed-use matched to Australian jobs 3124

Meanwhile, in real life…

Everything else here is about what AI could do. This is what people actually did. When they asked Claude for help with this kind of work, did they hand the whole task over, or roll their sleeves up and work through it together?

Tiny sample alert This job makes up 0.01% of all the conversations: a tiny slice. People using AI for a job isn't the same as AI being able to do it.

Out of every 100 conversations

47
53

worked through it together handed it over

The small print

Anthropic publishes this about its own product, and it doesn't feed into any score here. These are people who use Claude, not workers in general, so little use here doesn't mean AI can't reach the job.

These two add up to 100. The bars elsewhere on the page don't, because each is scored on its own, so we don't put them side by side.

observed use Anthropic Economic Index release 2026-06-26, period beginning 2026-05-01 data 0.8-observed-use 2026-05-01 · Anthropic, about its own product

So, should electronics technicians be worried?

Short answer: not much. Some of the chores will change, and good riddance.

Parts of it are changing. Designing circuitry is rated Medium; estimates, monitoring, design assistance, research support, testing and installation planning are Low. Electronic design tools with AI speed up layout; building and testing stay practical.

Worth remembering: we score tasks, not jobs. When AI takes on a task, the job usually reshuffles around it rather than vanishing.

Where this job could lead

How are the neighbours doing?

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” family, averaging 65. This one is below the family average.

Pit this against any other job →