Electrical and electronic engineering technologist and technician

National median pay

$78,190

per year · $37.59 per hour

May 2025

Projected employment change

+2%

2025–35

Slower than average

Jobs in the United States

96,900

Projected openings each year: 8,100

Typical entry-level education

Associate's degree

On-the-job training

None — training is part of the required programme

What the occupation does

Where an engineer designs a system, a technician makes it real and proves it works. That means building prototypes from sketches, setting up test equipment, running measurements, and diagnosing why something does not behave the way the drawing said it would. The work sits between the drawing board and the factory floor, and it suits someone who likes both theory and tools. Technicians often know more about how a specific piece of equipment actually behaves in practice than the engineer who specified it.

Common daily responsibilities

• Assemble electrical and electronic systems, prototypes, and test rigs.
• Build, calibrate, and repair electrical instruments and test equipment.
• Set up and run tests, and record what the equipment actually did.
• Analyse test results and identify the cause of a design or production problem.
• Read and work from blueprints, schematics, and engineering instructions.
• Adjust, replace, or rework defective circuitry and components.
• Inspect work for quality control, report findings, and recommend changes.
• Draw diagrams and write up specifications for experimental units.
• Perform preventive maintenance and calibration on equipment and systems.

Typical work environments

• Engineering laboratories, working on prototypes and test benches.
• Manufacturing plants, supporting production equipment and quality testing.
• Field service, commissioning and repairing equipment at customer sites.
• Utilities and industrial plants, on control systems and instrumentation.
• Research and development teams in electronics, medical devices, or aerospace.

Skills and abilities needed

• Solid grounding in electrical theory, and the maths that goes with it.
• Careful measurement discipline: knowing what your instrument can and cannot tell you.
• Precision with small components, wiring, and soldering.
• Ability to read a schematic and picture the physical circuit it describes.
• Methodical documentation, because test results are only useful if they are recorded properly.
• Willingness to work to an engineer's specification while still saying when it is wrong.

Ways to enter the occupation

• Associate degree in electrical or electronics engineering technology

  The standard route, and the one the Bureau of Labor Statistics describes as typical. Two-year programmes combine circuit theory, digital electronics, instrumentation, and substantial hands-on lab work.

  Typical duration: About 2 years

• Bachelor's degree in engineering technology

  A four-year technology degree leads to technologist-level roles with more design responsibility, and is a different qualification from an engineering degree.

  Typical duration: About 4 years

• Electronics technician with on-the-job progression

  Some people enter through electronics assembly, repair, or military training and move into technician roles as their knowledge grows, sometimes with employer-funded coursework.

  Typical duration: Varies

• Military training

  Electronics technician and avionics specialties in the armed forces provide substantial technical training that maps well to civilian technician roles.

  Typical duration: Varies

How long training takes

The standard route is a two-year associate degree, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics lists no additional on-the-job training requirement because the laboratory work is built into the programme. A four-year engineering technology degree leads to the technologist level. Time to full independence in a specialised field such as avionics, medical devices, or process control is usually longer, and much of it is learned on the job.

Licensing and certification

There is generally no state occupational licence for this work, and no national licence either. What matters in hiring is the degree and, in some fields, specific certifications or qualifications: for example, certain industrial and utility settings require specific safety or equipment qualifications, and working on medical devices or aerospace equipment often requires employer-issued authorisation. Those are job-specific requirements rather than an occupational licence.

This describes the general pattern. It is not a statement about the rules in your state, and nothing here means a trade is licensed nationwide.

Do requirements differ by state?

Not for the occupation itself, since no state licenses electrical engineering technicians. What varies by state is the industrial base — which sectors are hiring, and whether the work is in manufacturing, utilities, semiconductors, aerospace, or medical devices. Any safety qualification attached to a particular job follows the employer and the industry, not the state.

How to find a legitimate program

Look for an associate programme accredited by a recognised engineering technology accrediting body, and check that it has real laboratory facilities rather than simulations only. Ask what proportion of graduates are hired in technical roles and by which employers, and ask whether the programme includes a cooperative work placement. Ask to see the labs before you enrol.

Career advancement

• Senior technician or lead technician, taking responsibility for test programmes and calibration systems.
• Specialisation: avionics, medical device testing, process control and instrumentation, power electronics, or semiconductor fabrication.
• Field service engineer or applications engineer, working directly with customers on installed equipment.
• Engineering technician supervisor or laboratory manager.
• Further study toward an engineering degree, which opens design and professional engineering roles.

Self-employment

Self-employment is possible but niche. Independent calibration and instrument repair services, and contract test and field service work, are the realistic routes, and both depend on having the right test equipment and, often, on being recognised by the manufacturers whose equipment you service. Capital costs for calibrated test equipment are significant.

Self-employment usually brings its own requirements on top of the trade itself, such as a business registration, a contractor licence, insurance, or a bond. Those are separate from the occupational licence and are set by your state.

Related occupations

• Electrician
• Computer support specialist
• Industrial machinery mechanic, maintenance worker, and millwright
• Electrical power-line installer and repairer

Official resources and next steps

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Occupational Outlook Handbook

  The federal source for the pay, education, and employment projections shown on this page.

• Apprenticeship.gov — U.S. Department of Labor

  The official register of registered apprenticeship programmes. Search by trade and by state, and confirm that a programme is registered before you trust it.

• CareerOneStop — U.S. Department of Labor

  Official wage data for your own area, local training listings, and the American Job Center nearest you.

• O*NET OnLine — U.S. Department of Labor

  A detailed breakdown of the tasks, tools, and knowledge each occupation actually involves, maintained by the Department of Labor.

• U.S. Department of Labor

  Federal rules on wages, safety, and training, and the starting point for finding the state agency that governs a trade.