What Does an Engineering Technician Do?

More and more, companies are discovering the power that software has on their ability to remain competitive in their respective markets.

Given this fact, it is unsurprising that there has been increased demand for software applications and software professionals, among which, the engineering technician plays a vital role.

In this post, we will examine their role and responsibilities in greater detail as well as cover the best practices businesses should bear in mind when onboarding them to their teams.

Understanding The Field Of Computer Engineering

In order to understand the role, responsibilities, and day-to-day activities of an engineering technician, we must first peel apart the layers of the field in which they work.

Computer engineering is a field of engineering that combines the knowledge and skills of computer science and electrical engineering. It calls for the application of technical concepts found in mathematics, engineering, and science to software engineering.

The multidisciplinary nature of computer engineering involves everything related to the design and development of computer systems, and technological devices in general.

The engineering technician occupies a unique role. Their purpose is to act as a liaison between the engineering team and other technical teams, be they manufacturing or quality assurance, etc.

Their role involves conducting engineering design reviews, coordinating with vendors to ensure that specifications are met, and ensuring compliance of computer hardware for environmental conditions. The technician also interfaces with engineers in order to troubleshoot problems related to the software applications being developed.

Let’s take a closer look at the main tasks that professionals filling in this role are expected to accomplish.

The Day-to-Day of an Engineering Technician

Engineering technicians are expected to analyze, test, and troubleshoot computer hardware in order for engineers’ designs to be implemented by the engineering team. While this may sound like a tedious task, it is necessary as an engineering technician has to make sure that specifications such as thermal limits are met as well as ensure compliance of computer hardware for environmental conditions.

Here is a list of common activities that engineering technicians carry out regularly:

• Perform the necessary testing and analysis of computer hardware in order to ensure that engineering designs are met.
• Assist engineers with developing, designing, or creating computer components such as circuits, chipsets, and software programs, among others.
• Create plans for new computer systems by analyzing data from available sources.
• Build and test prototypes to validate and improve designs.
• Carry out quality control activities in production environments.
• Complete technical documentation, computer repairs, and computer integrated manufacturing.

In doing so, they ensure that all machinery used during the product design process remains functional once the product has been launched.

The Importance of Engineering Technicians

Without computer engineering technicians, software development engineers would not be able to focus on the task of designing new products or creating prototypes for testing purposes and instead would have to spend time troubleshooting malfunctioning machines. Not only does this scenario lead to a probable delay in project delivery, but it also increases the chance of serious budget overruns.

While we humans get away with our mistakes, in computer science, the slightest technical glitch or inaccuracy can jeopardize the success of the technology device. After all, users have high expectations and don’t like when they can’t use applications properly.

Engineering technicians play a vital role in preventing application issues.

For that reason, they play an integral function in the engineering team.

The Background of an Engineering Technician

Engineering technicians usually have a similar academic background to that of software developers. Most of them have an associate’s degree in electrical engineering technology, computer science, computer engineering technology, or a related field.

While there are engineering technicians who have bachelor’s degrees in similar fields, they are in the minority. This is because bachelor’s level education is not a typical requirement for engineering technicians. However, those that do elect to pursue undergraduate studies at the bachelor’s level stand out from the crowd due to their greater academic knowledge.

In terms of experience, engineering technicians come with various work backgrounds. Some of them have experience working directly with engineering teams on computer projects while others may only have the theoretical knowledge they acquired from school.

Interestingly enough, some computer engineering technicians actually transition from similar roles such as that of the mechanical engineering technician, the industrial engineering technician, or the electronics engineering technician. These all form part of the same umbrella ‘engineering’ term which encompasses various inter-related disciplines such as civil engineering or environmental engineering, among others.

Examining the Salary of a Computer Engineering Technician

Based on data published in June 2021 by Glassdoor, the average computer engineering technician in the United States of America has an annual median salary of roughly $54,000.

It is worth noting that this estimated salary is lower than PayScale’s figure, which places the average salary of engineering technicians at roughly $45,420 annually, or $22.71 an hour.

However, salaries never remain static in such a competitive industry. The demand for computer engineering technicians will continue throughout the next several years because the assistance they provide in software development is instrumental to an engineering team’s success with a project. Therefore, the average compensation offered to them will increase year on year.

Differentiating the Technician from the Engineer

While it is clear that engineering technicians usually adopt a more supportive role in team development, at times one may think that their role overlaps with that of the engineering team.

It is important to consider the following points in order to understand how engineering technicians are different from engineers:

• Qualifications: Usually, engineering technicians do not have an academic background or training that is nearly as rigorous, long, and extensive as that of an engineer. They may be trained for a specific type of software development language but cannot take over any engineering task.
• Tasks accomplished: It is not uncommon for engineering technicians to work more closely with machines such as computers or other physical equipment than they do with software.
• Expected role: Engineering technicians are employed by companies and organizations that require a specific set of engineering tasks to be solved. They may be hired on a contractual basis by groups who need their expertise in engineering software applications but on a temporary basis.
• Responsibility: Engineering technicians’ skillsets typically have less responsibility when it comes to making decisions that will affect the outcome of their work. In contrast, software engineers tend to know more about the engineering process and under the Scrum methodology, for example, have to make decisions that will affect how the project will develop.

What Computer Engineer Technicians Can Do For You

Here’s a breakdown of how they can assist in the stages of your software development project:

• Computer engineering technicians typically work alongside other engineers and offer a lower-cost alternative to hiring an additional software engineer for your project.
• They can help with some of the more routine tasks such as testing code or updating documentation to building and validating prototypes.
• They can provide a valuable second opinion on engineering decisions, which they may have more experience with than engineers new to software development. This is especially helpful when you’re dealing with complicated or nuanced design problems that require an additional perspective.
• Additionally, engineering technicians can be your go-to professionals to bring different engineering disciplines to the table. This is especially useful for cross-disciplinary projects.

Hiring A Computer Engineering Technician

When onboarding a computer engineering technician, you should pay particular attention to your project needs.

To start with, the engineer technician’s academic background should be an area of interest to you. There are engineering technicians that have a computer engineering degree and those who don’t. Similarly, there are those who have computer engineering associate’s degrees versus those who studied the same but at the bachelor level. The general rule is the more qualified the professional, the more of an asset they are to your company.

In addition, the technician’s work experience is also important to keep in mind when building your team. A technician with many years of software development can be just as handy for solving problems on an agile project as someone with more traditional CS skills, for example.

Deciding Where To Hire An Engineering Technician

Careful attention must be paid to the selection and hiring process, particularly knowing the right place to source the right professionals in computer science and software.

In the quest to hire the best professional, some businesses opt to begin their search via either freelance platforms or job boards. There, recruiters post a job for a technician, and based on the responses from candidates, they select who they believe is the best match.

For many recruiters, this may seem like the most logical thing to do. As mentioned previously, the usual average rate for technicians is around $20 an hour. Most of the freelancers who use these platforms are willing to accept lower wages due to them living in countries where salaries and the cost of living are lower.

However, this is a recipe for disaster.

Here’s why.

The Difficulties of Hiring Freelancers

The role of the engineering technician is fundamental to your team’s success. It is extremely risky to rest the fate and lifeline of your project in the hands of freelancers.

To begin with, freelance platforms and job boards are a haven for scammers. In fact, these platforms are teeming with service providers who have never had their skills, purported expertise, or advertised qualifications validated neither by the platform they work on or by a third party. These candidates have not been subject to any sort of assessment that gauges whether they are fit to be offering the services that they are.

Consequently, many scam artists take advantage of the lack of security or vetting process seen in freelancer platforms to attempt to strike up partnerships with businesses when they don’t have the skills to deliver.

Sadly, hundreds of businesses have fallen victim to these types of illegitimate professionals. By the time they have realized the damage, it is already done, often wreaking havoc on business spending and budgeting.

All in all, this type of environment has made recruiters the primary agents who have to handle onboarding and ensure the legitimacy of the candidates they hire, often contending with having to decipher falsified documents, among other things.

That said, on occasion, you may discover a freelancer who has the proven technical skills and knowledge to become a computer engineer. However, in most cases, their capabilities in the niche tend to be contrasted heavily by their track record of proper project management processes.

That includes submitting activities on time and promoting accountability and transparency throughout the entire product life cycle.

In short, to embrace job boards and freelance problems is way too risky to justify cutting corners.

Here’s the right way to tackle the task of onboarding technicians.

Check Out Vetted Communities

One of the easier ways to jump over this hurdle is to source a technician through a vetted, members-only community.

These types of spaces usually only allow their clients access to professionals once they have been vetted. For that reason, they are ideal for sourcing talented professionals.

DevTeam.Space is an example of this type of community. This is a vetted, members-only software platform that connects businesses with the professional computer-engineering technicians needed to take their projects to the next level.

All of their professionals are supported by an agile process that makes client-side project management so much easier. Since all of their developers come with an account manager who ensures that daily and weekly progress reports are made available to clients, this data allows project managers to maintain exactly where their projects are at all times.

Recruit a Computer Engineering Technician Today

All in all, while the role of a computer engineering technician may be overshadowed by that of the more in-demand engineering developer, the place of the technician in the development team is as relevant now as it was years ago.

The key is to be extremely careful during the onboarding and selection process.

For that reason, you can simplify your headaches with DevTeam.Space.

It only takes a few minutes to complete their DevTeam.Space questionnaire.

Once you do, one of their account managers will reach out to you as soon as possible so you can get started.