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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3119

Physical and engineering science technicians not elsewhere classified

This unit group covers physical and engineering science technicians not classified elsewhere in Minor Group 311: Physical and Engineering Science Technicians. For instance, the unit group includes those who assist scientists and engineers engaged in developing procedures or conducting research on safety, biomedical, environmental or industrial and production engineering. In such cases tasks would include - (a) collecting data and providing technical assistance regarding: efficient, safe and economic utilization of personnel, material and equipment; methods of work and sequence of operations and supervision of their implementation; and efficient layout of plant or establishment; (b) aiding in the identification of potential hazards and introducing safety procedures and devices; (c) modifying and testing equipment and devices used in the prevention, control and remediation of environmental pollution, in site remediation and land reclamation; (d) assisting in the development of environmental pollution remediation devices under the direction of an engineer; (e) assisting engineers in testing and designing robotics equipment. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Engineering technician (production) - Fire investigator - Forensic science technician - Quantity surveying technician - Robotics technician - Time and motion study technician Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Production engineer - 2141 - Time and motion study engineer - 2141 - Quantity surveyor - 2149 - Aeronautics engineering technician - 3115

None of this job's tasks scored high enough to count. It ranks 202 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • pipeline compliance coordinator
  • quality engineering technician
  • process engineering technician
  • leather goods product developer
  • automation engineering technician
  • textile process controller
  • aviation safety officer
  • product development engineering technician
  • footwear product developer
  • footwear production technician
  • food technician
  • airport maintenance technician
  • industrial engineering technician
  • commissioning technician
  • utilities inspector
  • leather goods manufacturing technician
  • photonics 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.

74.4
Holds up
against AI Not Exposed

AI could take on 25.6 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 25.6 = 74.4

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

53.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 15 US jobs , so treat it as rough

38.5
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 39.7 · hand skill 36.6 · cramped spaces 39.1 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on 50+ · fiddly under 39.4 Hands-on, less fiddly work

Less fine handwork and fewer cramped spaces than a typical hands-on job. That clears one hurdle for machines. It doesn't mean machines are doing this work yet.

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

This number is probably too high

This score only looks at AI tools like chatbots. It doesn't look at robots at all — and this job rates 53.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is, which is exactly where robots come in.

Have a look at the tasks below and judge for yourself. The ILO scored them low because a chatbot can't do them. Whether a machine with hands could is a different question, and we can't answer it yet.

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 31.5, while the average is 25.6. 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. 31.5

    Collecting data and providing technical assistance regarding: efficient, safe and economic utilization of personnel, material and equipment; methods of work and sequence of operations and supervision of their implementation; and efficient layout of plant or establishment

    Low
  2. 28.5

    Assisting engineers in testing and designing robotics equipment.

    Low
  3. 25.5

    Aiding in the identification of potential hazards and introducing safety procedures and devices

    Low
  4. 23.8

    Modifying and testing equipment and devices used in the prevention, control, and remediation of environmental pollution, site remediation and land reclamation

    Very Low
  5. 18.8

    Assisting in the development of environmental pollution remediation devices under the direction of an engineer

    Very 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.

4 Australian jobs match this one, and we've simply averaged them. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
68.5
AI does it for you
38.5

Helping wins by 30 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 3114, 3121, 3129, 3999

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.3. This one is above that.