Experience Requirements Overview

  • Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
  • A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
  • Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
  • Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Education, Training and Experience

Required Level of Education: Bachelor's Degree

Related Work Experience: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

On-Site or In-Plant Training: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

On-the-Job Training: Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years

Detailed Work Activities

  • Investigate the environmental impact of projects.
  • Confer with other personnel to resolve design or operational problems.
  • Create graphical representations of mechanical equipment.
  • Test performance of electrical, electronic, mechanical, or integrated systems or equipment.
  • Design structures or facilities.

Work Values

Achievement

Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment. Corresponding needs are Ability Utilization and Achievement.

Working Conditions

Recognition

Relationships

Support

Independence

Tasks

  • Prepare reports, sketches, working drawings, specifications, proposals, and budgets for proposed sites or systems.
  • Visit sites to observe environmental problems, to consult with contractors, or to monitor construction activities.
  • Meet with clients, such as district or regional councils, farmers, and developers, to discuss their needs.
  • Discuss plans with clients, contractors, consultants, and other engineers so that they can be evaluated and necessary changes made.
  • Test agricultural machinery and equipment to ensure adequate performance.
  • Plan and direct construction of rural electric-power distribution systems, and irrigation, drainage, and flood control systems for soil and water conservation.
  • Provide advice on water quality and issues related to pollution management, river control, and ground and surface water resources.
  • Design structures for crop storage, animal shelter and loading, and animal and crop processing, and supervise their construction.
  • Conduct educational programs that provide farmers or farm cooperative members with information that can help them improve agricultural productivity.
  • Design sensing, measuring, and recording devices, and other instrumentation used to study plant or animal life.
  • Design agricultural machinery components and equipment, using computer-aided design (CAD) technology.
  • Design and supervise environmental and land reclamation projects in agriculture and related industries.
  • Design food processing plants and related mechanical systems.
  • Supervise food processing or manufacturing plant operations.

Work Styles

Achievement/Effort

Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

Persistence

Initiative

Leadership

Cooperation

Concern for Others

Social Orientation

Self-Control

Stress Tolerance

Adaptability/Flexibility

Dependability

Attention to Detail

Integrity

Independence

Innovation

Analytical Thinking

Data Source: This page includes information from the O*NET 28.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. This page includes Employment Projections program, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.