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What They Do
About This Career
Performs engineering duties in planning and designing tools, engines, machines, and other mechanically functioning equipment. Oversees installation, operation, maintenance, and repair of equipment such as centralized heat, gas, water, and steam systems.
This career is part of the Energy cluster Engineering pathway.
A person in this career:
- Reads and interprets blueprints, technical drawings, schematics, or computer-generated reports.
- Researches, designs, evaluates, installs, operates, or maintains mechanical products, equipment, systems or processes to meet requirements.
- Confers with engineers or other personnel to implement operating procedures, resolve system malfunctions, or provide technical information.
- Investigates equipment failures or difficulties to diagnose faulty operation and recommend remedial actions.
- Develops, coordinates, or monitors all aspects of production, including selection of manufacturing methods, fabrication, or operation of product designs.
- Develops or tests models of alternate designs or processing methods to assess feasibility, sustainability, operating condition effects, potential new applications, or necessity of modification.
- Specifies system components or directs modification of products to ensure conformance with engineering design, performance specifications, or environmental regulations.
- Recommends design modifications to eliminate machine or system malfunctions.
- Assists drafters in developing the structural design of products, using drafting tools or computer-assisted drafting equipment or software.
- Oversees installation, operation, maintenance, or repair to ensure that machines or equipment are installed and functioning according to specifications.
Working Conditions and Physical Demands
People who do this job report that:
- You would often handle loads up to 10 lbs., sometimes up to 20 lbs. You might do a lot of walking or standing, or you might sit but use your arms and legs to control machines, equipment or tools.
- Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
- Work in this occupation requires being inside most of the time
Working in this career involves (physical activities):
- Seeing clearly up close
- Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
- Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
Work Hours and Travel
- Regular working hours and limited travel
Specialty and Similar Careers
Careers that are more detailed or close to this career:
- Application Engineer
- Design Engineer — Researches and develops ideas for new products and production systems.
- Design Maintenance Engineer
- Equipment Engineer
- Mechanical Design Engineer
- Process Engineer — Develops and optimizes economical industrial processes to make the huge range of products on which modern society depends.
- Product Engineer
- Project Engineer
- Test Engineer
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts national surveys of wage data by occupation in every state and in all industry divisions. These surveys are conducted through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program.
The statistics collected for one year are published the next fall. For example, 2013 wage information was published in the fall of 2014.
There are over 800 occupations in the surveys, and these occupations cover the entire U.S. labor market. The surveys ask for reports in a scale of ranges for both hourly wages and annual wages.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics for a broad category, be aware that the salary data for a specific career may differ.
For more details about how wage information is collected and calculated by the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://www.bls.gov/bls/blswage.htm.
Every year the U.S. Department of Labor conducts a national survey of over 400,000
employers in every state and in all industry divisions. This survey is conducted
through the Occupational Employment Statistics (OES) program. Every other year the
department publishes outlook information based on these surveys.
Each outlook period covers 10 years. For example, in 2003 the outlook information
was published for 2004-2014. Employers are asked to report the number of employees
in about 770 different occupations that cover the entire U.S. labor market.
From this information, staffing patterns for different industries are established.
Industry growth is projected into the future based on past trends and current economic
conditions. Industry staffing patterns are then applied to the industry projections
to obtain occupational projections.
In many cases, these occupations are broad enough to cover many more detailed specialties
of an occupation. A specific occupation may be included in a broader occupational
category for which labor market data is available. When you look at the statistics
for a broad category, be aware that the employment data for a specific field may
differ.
For more details about how employment information is collected and calculated by
the U.S. Department of Labor, visit their website at http://stats.bls.gov/news.release/ocwage.tn.htm.
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