Maintenance & Repair Workers, General

Also Called:

Facilities Technician,

Maintenance Engineer,

Maintenance Mechanic,

Maintenance Technician

What they do: Perform work involving the skills of two or more maintenance or craft occupations to keep machines, mechanical equipment, or the structure of a building in repair. Duties may involve pipe fitting; HVAC maintenance; insulating; welding; machining; carpentry; repairing electrical or mechanical equipment; installing, aligning, and balancing new equipment; and repairing buildings, floors, or stairs.

What do they typically do on the job?

  • Perform routine maintenance, such as inspecting drives, motors, or belts, checking fluid levels, replacing filters, or doing other preventive maintenance actions.
  • Inspect, operate, or test machinery or equipment to diagnose machine malfunctions.
  • Adjust functional parts of devices or control instruments, using hand tools, levels, plumb bobs, or straightedges.

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.

Interests

Career interests describe the perspectives and interests of people who enjoy the type of work involved in this career.

Discover what your interests are by taking the Interest Profiler Quiz

Abilities

Whether you have received formal training or not, these types of abilities are helpful in this career.

Hand and Finger Use

  • Hold or move items with your hands

  • Keep your arm or hand steady

Verbal

  • Communicate by speaking

  • Listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • Order or arrange things

  • Notice when problems happen

Visual Understanding

  • See hidden patterns

Skills

People who want to pursue this career have skills in these areas.

Basic Skills

  • Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem

  • Figuring out how to use new ideas or things

Problem Solving

  • Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Does this sound like something you'd like to do?

1. Do some research

  • Identify how your interests, values, and strengths match this occupation
  • Talk to someone who works in this field or spend a day job shadowing
  • Use the colleges and training directory to explore programs related to this career

2. Plan your next move

  • Talk to your college and career counselor or school admissions staff
  • Visit Idaho Launch
  • Search for available Maintenance & Repair Workers, General jobs on Idaho Works

Data for NSI career cards comes from the following: Idaho Department of Labor, US Bureau of Labor Statistics, O*NET, MyNextMove, and Career OneStop