Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians

Moderate Risk
Low High

Explore safer careers (5)

Lower estimated automation risk

Aerospace Engineers
12% automation risk | Minimal Risk
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27.8 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Test data, aerospace systems, simulations, instrumentation, and vehicle evaluation transfer with engineering credentials.

Avionics Technicians
29% automation risk | Low Risk
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11.3 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Aircraft electronics, test equipment, calibration, troubleshooting, and flight-system documentation transfer very directly.

Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians
34% automation risk | Low Risk
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6.2 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Electronics, circuitry, instrumentation, calibration, and engineering-test support are highly reusable.

Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians
30% automation risk | Low Risk
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9.7 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Test workflows, production data, process documentation, quality checks, and efficiency analysis transfer.

Mechanical Engineering Technologists and Technicians
34% automation risk | Low Risk
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6.4 pts lower View career
Why it fits

Mechanical systems, measurements, test procedures, documentation, and prototype support overlap strongly.

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Occupation snapshot

What does this snowflake show?
The Snowflake is a visual summary of the five badges: Automation Risk (calculated), Risk (polled), Growth, Wages and Volume. It gives you an instant snapshot of an occupations profile. The colour of the Snowflake relates to its size. The better the occupation scores in relation to others, the larger and greener the Snowflake becomes.
JOB SCORE
5.5/10
What's this?
Job Score (higher is better):

We rate jobs using four factors. These are:

- Chance of being automated
- Job growth
- Wages
- Volume of available positions

These are some key things to think about when job hunting.

Risk & user votes

Calculated automation risk

40% (Moderate Risk)

Moderate Risk (41-60%): This occupation may be meaningfully affected by automation. Some parts of the role may be suitable for AI, software, or robotics, while others still rely on human skill, judgement, trust, or real-world context. People in this range may benefit from building skills that complement automation and reduce replacement risk.

More information on what this score is, and how it is calculated is available here.

Human strengths important in this job

These are human abilities and work contexts that are important in this occupation. They may help explain why parts of the role are harder to replace end-to-end, but they are not the only inputs into the automation score.

Decision-making and problem solving

Very important
Why this matters
Analyze information, weigh tradeoffs, and choose the best solution—especially when situations are ambiguous, high-stakes, or have real-world consequences.
Jobs that also use this strength

Thinking creatively

Quite important
Why this matters
Coming up with original ideas and designs—creating new concepts, products, systems, or artistic work. This kind of open-ended invention and taste-based judgment is harder to automate end-to-end than routine, rule-based tasks.
Jobs that also use this strength

Coordinating others’ work

Quite important
Why this matters
Bringing people together, assigning tasks, and keeping a group aligned so work gets done.
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Communicating with people outside the organization

Quite important
Why this matters
Represents the organization to customers, the public, or government—handling questions, concerns, and relationship-building through conversations, writing, calls, or email.
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Active learning

Quite important
Why this matters
Keeps learning from new information and applying it to make better decisions now and in the future, especially when situations change.
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Show 1 more strength

Education and training expertise

Quite important
Why this matters
Designing and delivering instruction—adapting lessons to different learners and measuring whether training actually works.
Jobs that also use this strength

What users think

Based on 50 votes

44% chance of full automation within the next two decades

Our visitors have voted they are unsure if this occupation will be automated. This assessment is further supported by the calculated automation risk level, which estimates 40% chance of automation.

What do you think the risk of automation is?

What is the likelihood that Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians will be replaced by robots or artificial intelligence within the next 20 years?

View sentiment trend

Pay & outlook

Wages

High paid relative to other professions

In 2024, the median annual wage for Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians was $79,830 ($38 per hour).

The median annual wage for Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians was 61.3% higher than the national median annual wage, which stood at $49,500.

View wage trend

Wages over time

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics

Growth

Very fast growth relative to other professions

The number of 'Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians' job openings is expected to rise 8.1% by 2034

View employment trend

Total employment, and estimated job openings

* Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the period between 2023 and 2033
Updated projections are due 09-2025.

Volume

Significantly lower range of job opportunities compared to other professions

As of 2024 there were 9,060 people employed as 'Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians' within the United States.

This represents around < 0.001% of the employed workforce across the country

Put another way, around 1 in 17 thousand people are employed as 'Aerospace Engineering and Operations Technologists and Technicians'.

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What people are saying (1)

A future engineer (Low)
01 Jul 2024 18:52
Every airplane design is characterized by its distinctiveness and meticulousness. Although artificial intelligence (AI) has the capability to surpass the calculations involved in designing aircraft, the role also depends on the consumer. While AI might potentially dominate the field of engineering, the business aspect remains rooted in the expertise of the engineer.
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Job description

Operate, install, adjust, and maintain integrated computer/communications systems, consoles, simulators, and other data acquisition, test, and measurement instruments and equipment, which are used to launch, track, position, and evaluate air and space vehicles. May record and interpret test data.

O*NET-SOC code: 17-3021.00