Also called: NETA Technician, Field Service Technician (Power Systems)
Tests and calibrates the big switchgear, transformers and protective relays in data centers, factories and substations.
Wearing an arc-flash suit, you connect test equipment to a breaker the size of a refrigerator and prove it trips at exactly the right current. You write reports that let the building turn on its power. Data center construction is keeping these techs extremely busy.
Estimated; travel and overtime are common.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Associate's degree (2-year), about 2 years after high school. Associate's in electrical or electronics technology plus NETA certification.
Ways in: 2-year college, Certification, On-the-job training. Training cost: Under $15k.
Majors to look at: Electrical Engineering Technology.
Growing much faster than average. Demand is surging with data centers and grid upgrades.
Low risk for 10 years. Test sets now log and analyze results automatically; connecting, testing and judging high-voltage gear on-site stays human.
Classes: Physics, Algebra II, Electronics CTE.
Official data: O*NET occupation 49-2095.
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.