FlightWay / Careers / Microsystems Engineers

Engineering & Science

Microsystems Engineers

Research, design, develop, or test microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.

Sector: Engineering & Science
Preparation: Zone 5 — extensive preparation needed
O*NET code: 17-2199.06

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

central to the job — rated 86/100 for importance.
Working with Computers

central to the job — rated 86/100 for importance.
Getting Information

central to the job — rated 85/100 for importance.
Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships

a major part of the work — rated 77/100 for importance.
Thinking Creatively

a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.
Analyzing Data or Information

a major part of the work — rated 75/100 for importance.

Research, design, develop, or test microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.

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 high level (68/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Active Listening

Needed at a high level (61/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Critical Thinking

Needed at a solid working level (59/100), and rated 75/100 for importance.
Complex Problem Solving

Needed at a high level (61/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Systems Analysis

Needed at a solid working level (57/100), and rated 69/100 for importance.

Knowledge

Computers and Electronics

Needed at expert level (86/100), and rated 91/100 for importance.
Engineering and Technology

Needed at expert level (88/100), and rated 90/100 for importance.
Mathematics

Needed at expert level (81/100), and rated 77/100 for importance.
Physics

Needed at expert level (77/100), and rated 74/100 for importance.

Abilities

Oral Comprehension

Needed at a high level (68/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Written Comprehension

Needed at a high level (66/100), and rated 78/100 for importance.
Deductive Reasoning

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.
Oral Expression

Needed at a high level (64/100), and rated 72/100 for importance.

How people get in

O*NET places this occupation in Zone 5 — extensive preparation needed. That is a statement about what employers typically require, not a rule about you.

Education

Graduate school — a master's, a PhD, an MD or a JD, depending on the field.

Experience

More than five years of related experience is common before the title is yours.

Training

This is a long runway. Start the prerequisites early or the timeline slips a year at a time.

What it pays

These are typical engineering compensation bands by employer tier — sector-level figures, not a measured salary for Microsystems Engineers 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”
Long-running relationships carry the work; the same people come back.From “Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships”
You own decisions rather than execute someone else’s.From “Making Decisions and Solving Problems”
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 Microsystems Engineers. 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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Ten questions, about 90 seconds. You get your match against Microsystems Engineers and 782+ other real careers — with the reasoning shown.

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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.