Electronics Engineering Technician

What the work actually is

O*NET: apply electrical and electronic theory and related knowledge, usually under the direction of engineering staff, to design, build, repair, adjust and modify electrical components, circuitry, controls and machinery. The tasks are the bench — read blueprints, wiring diagrams, schematic drawings or engineering instructions for assembling electronics units; assemble, test or maintain circuitry or electronic components; modify, maintain or repair electronics equipment or systems to ensure proper functioning; identify and resolve equipment malfunctions, working with manufacturers or field representatives.

⚠ Note the phrase under the direction of engineering staff. This is a defined role beside engineers, not a lesser version of one: the technician builds, tests and proves what the engineer specified, and in most firms is the person who actually finds out whether it works.

Projected need

O*NET, on federal projections: 93,700 employed (2024), growth “slower than average (1% to 2%)”, 8,400 openings a year, median wages $78,190 (2025). On education: 34% an associate degree, 21% some college, 16% a high school diploma.

⚠ That is a strong wage for a two-year degree — above every clock-hour trade on this site and close to the aviation mechanic median — in an occupation that is flat rather than growing. The openings are replacement rather than expansion, which makes WHERE you are and WHAT you can prove matter more than the national number.

⚠⚠ Technology or engineering — decide it deliberately, and early

An engineering TECHNOLOGY degree and an ENGINEERING degree are different qualifications with different accreditations. In Florida the practical difference is written into statute: under s. 471.013, a graduate of an approved engineering curriculum needs four years of experience before the PE examination; a graduate of an approved engineering technology curriculum needs six.

⚠ For most electronics technicians that is irrelevant — the work runs under the industry exemption and few licence. But it is not a decision you can revisit cheaply at year five, so make it on purpose: two years to a bench career that pays well, or four to an engineering degree that keeps design and licensure open.

⚠ What the courses tell you about where this is taught

The technical core is widely available: introduction to electronics at 16 Florida institutions, DC and AC circuits and analog devices at 10, programmable logic controllers and robotics at 9, microprocessors at 6. Twenty institutions award in the field.

⚠ The PLC and robotics courses are the ones to look for specifically. They are what separate an electronics technician from an electronics repairer in a plant, and they are the bridge to the automation work on the manufacturing path.

Necessary skills

• Circuit analysis you can use — DC then AC, and the habit of predicting what a meter should read before you read it.
• Test equipment. Oscilloscope, function generator, meters, and the discipline of a measurement you can repeat.
• Schematic and datasheet literacy. ⚠ Reading a datasheet properly is an underrated professional skill and it is where self-taught people usually have the gap.
• Digital and embedded work — microcontrollers, interfacing, and enough programming to test and troubleshoot.
• Controls — PLCs, sensors, actuators. The most employable single addition in Florida's plants.

Advice

• ⚠ Check the articulation to a bachelor's before you enrol, even if you do not intend to use it. Several Florida colleges run a B.A.S. or B.S. in engineering technology above this degree, and knowing which courses carry over changes which ones you take.
• Take the PLC and robotics courses whether or not they are required.
• Build things and keep them. In this field a portfolio of working hardware does what a transcript cannot.
• Florida's employers are specific — aerospace and launch, defence and simulation around Orlando, medical devices, marine electronics, utilities and the theme parks, which run enormous amounts of custom electronics and controls.
• If you want the plant floor rather than the bench, read the manufacturing and mechatronics path beside this one — same skills, shorter route, different employers.