Also called: FA Engineer, Reliability Engineer
Investigates why chips and electronics fail, using microscopes, X-rays, and lab tests.
A batch of car chips is failing in hot weather. You slice one open, examine it under an electron microscope, and find a microscopic crack. It's detective work at the nanoscale.
Estimate.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 4 years after high school. Bachelor's in engineering, materials science, or physics.
Ways in: 4-year college. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Materials Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics.
Growing faster than average. Steady with chip manufacturing growth.
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps read images, but investigating why chips fail with microscopes and lab tests stays hands-on detective work.
Classes: AP Chemistry, AP Physics, AP Biology or materials.
Official data: O*NET occupation 17-2199.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.