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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3116

Chemical engineering technicians

Chemical engineering technicians perform technical tasks to aid in chemical engineering research and in the design, manufacture, construction, operation, maintenance and repair of chemical plant. Tasks include - (a) assisting in research on and development of industrial chemical processes, plant and equipment, or testing prototypes; (b) designing and preparing layouts of chemical plants according to the specifications given; (c) preparing detailed estimates of quantities and costs of materials and labour required for manufacture and installation, according to the specifications given; (d) monitoring technical aspects of the construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of chemical plants to ensure satisfactory performance and compliance with specifications and regulations; (e) conducting chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists and engineers in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Chemical engineering estimator - Chemical engineering technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Chemical technician - 3111 - Chemical process technician - 3133

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 260 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • chemical 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.

67.7
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 32.3 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 32.3 = 67.7

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

55.6
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

46.2
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 47.4 · hand skill 42.9 · cramped spaces 48.3 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly 39.4+ Hands-on, fiddly work in tight spaces

More fine handwork, and more time in cramped or awkward spots, than a typical hands-on job. That is exactly what machines find hardest: they do best in tidy, predictable places.

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 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 55.6 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, and for work like this robots are the bigger question.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 35.2, while the average is 32.3. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 35.2

    Conducting chemical and physical laboratory tests to assist scientists and engineers in making qualitative and quantitative analyses of solids, liquids, and gaseous materials.

    Low
  2. 33.5

    Assisting in research on and development of industrial chemical processes, plant and equipment, or testing prototypes

    Low
  3. 33

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

    Low
  4. 30.5

    Monitoring technical aspects of the construction, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of chemical plants to ensure satisfactory performance and compliance with specifications and regulations

    Low
  5. 29.5

    Designing and preparing layouts of chemical plants according to the specifications given

    Low

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

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

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

AI helps you
67
AI does it for you
33

Helping wins by 34 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3129

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.4. This one is above that.