FlightWay / Careers / Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians

Engineering & Science

Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians

Apply engineering theory and principles to problems of industrial layout or manufacturing production, usually under the direction of engineering staff.

Sector: Engineering & Science
Preparation: Zone 3 — medium preparation needed
O*NET code: 17-3026.00

What you'll actually do

The activities O*NET rates highest for this occupation, most important first. Numbers are out of 100.

Making Decisions and Solving Problems

a major part of the work — rated 79/100 for importance.
Drafting, Laying Out, and Specifying Technical Devices, Parts, and Equipment

a major part of the work — rated 76/100 for importance.
Thinking Creatively

a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.
Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates

a major part of the work — rated 73/100 for importance.
Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge

a major part of the work — rated 72/100 for importance.
Getting Information

a major part of the work — rated 72/100 for importance.

Apply engineering theory and principles to problems of industrial layout or manufacturing production, usually under the direction of engineering staff. May perform time and motion studies on worker operations in a variety of industries for purposes such as establishing standard production rates or improving efficiency.

What it takes

Two numbers per line: the level the work expects, and how important it is to doing the job well. Both are O*NET ratings, already on a 0–100 scale.

Skills

Reading Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Complex Problem Solving

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.
Monitoring

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 60/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Mechanical

Needed at expert level (76/100), and rated 85/100 for importance.
Engineering and Technology

Needed at a high level (67/100), and rated 77/100 for importance.
Production and Processing

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 67/100 for importance.
Mathematics

Needed at a solid working level (56/100), and rated 64/100 for importance.

Abilities

Deductive Reasoning

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Inductive Reasoning

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Oral Comprehension

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Problem Sensitivity

Needed at a solid working level (55/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 3 — medium preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

Vocational training, an associate degree, or equivalent on-the-job experience.

Experience

One to two years of related experience is typical.

Training

Employers expect you to arrive with the core skill already.

What it pays

These are typical engineering compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians specifically. Treat them as the shape of the market, then check a real posting for the number.

SpaceX · NVIDIA · Boeing

$120k – $200k+

Manufacturing Corps

$85k – $140k

Local Engineering Firms

$65k – $110k

How the work tends to run

Each line below is read off a single O*NET activity rating for this occupation — named, so you can disagree with it.

Most of the day happens at a screen.From “Working with Computers”
There is real room to invent — the answer is not in a manual.From “Thinking Creatively”

How FlightWay scores your fit against this

No black box. Here is the whole method, factor by factor.

1. You answer a short quiz: Your answers build a profile across the same 161 O*NET dimensions this page is describing — skills, knowledge, abilities and work activities. Same axes, so the comparison is like-for-like.
2. We correlate the two profiles: Fit is a mean-centered cosine — a correlation between the SHAPE of your profile and the shape of Industrial Engineering Technologists and Technicians. Centering matters: raw similarity between any two occupations sits at 0.70–0.85 because all work shares a common profile, so without it every career would look like a match.
3. The number you see is personality fit only: "Would I want this work" and "am I ready for this work" are different questions, and averaging them answers neither. So readiness — what your résumé, coursework and projects prove — is scored separately and shown next to fit, never blended into it.
4. Every factor is visible: You can open any match and see which dimensions pushed it up and which pulled it down. If you disagree with the number, you can see exactly where it came from.

More in Engineering & Science

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Occupational data on this page comes from the O*NET 30.3 Database, published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). O*NET is a registered trademark of USDOL/ETA. FlightWay is not endorsed by, and USDOL/ETA is not responsible for, anything built on that data — see our terms. What is ours is the comparison, the score and the plan.