Equipment Maintenance

What Equipment Maintenance Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, equipment maintenance majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Equipment Maintenance Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
• Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Skills for Equipment Maintenance Majors

The following list of skills has been highlighted as some of the most essential for careers related to equipment maintenance:

• Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
• Troubleshooting - Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
• Equipment Maintenance - Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
• Operation Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
• Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.

Abilities for Equipment Maintenance Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a equipment maintenance student include the following:

• Arm-Hand Steadiness - The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
• Manual Dexterity - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
• Near Vision - The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
• Control Precision - The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Equipment Maintenance

Some degrees associated with equipment maintenance may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for equipment maintenance careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	2.7%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	41.5%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	37.2%
Some College Courses	7.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	7.3%
Bachelor’s Degree	1.9%
Master’s Degree	0.6%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.8%

Online Equipment Maintenance Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	248	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	64	0
Associate’s Degree	213	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Equipment Maintenance

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to equipment maintenance.

Major	Number of Grads
Vehicle Maintenance & Repair	68,347
Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation & Refrigeration	21,415
Electronics Maintenance & Repair	7,979
Precision Systems Maintenance	2,301
Mechanic & Repair Tech (Other)	1,175
Mechanics & Repairers	431
Energy Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies.	146

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.