Etchers and Engravers
Engrave or etch metal, wood, rubber, or other materials. Includes such workers as etcher-circuit processors, pantograph engravers, and silk screen etchers.
Most important skills
- Reading Comprehension
- Monitoring
- Operations Monitoring
- Active Listening
- Speaking
- Critical Thinking
- Operation and Control
- Quality Control Analysis
Key knowledge
- Production and Processing
- Customer and Personal Service
- Mechanical
- Design
- Administration and Management
- Mathematics
- Computers and Electronics
- Engineering and Technology
What the work involves
- Clean and polish engraved areas.
- Examine sketches, diagrams, samples, blueprints, or photographs to decide how designs are to be etched, cut, or engraved onto workpieces.
- Inspect etched work for depth of etching, uniformity, and defects, using calibrated microscopes, gauges, fingers, or magnifying lenses.
- Adjust depths and sizes of cuts by adjusting heights of worktables, or by adjusting machine-arm gauges.
- Engrave and print patterns, designs, etchings, trademarks, or lettering onto flat or curved surfaces of a wide variety of metal, glass, plastic, or paper items, using hand tools or hand-held power tools.
- Position and clamp workpieces, plates, or rollers in holding fixtures.
- Determine machine settings, and move bars or levers to reproduce designs on rollers or plates.
- Examine engraving for quality of cut, burrs, rough spots, and irregular or incomplete engraving.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Artistic, Conventional.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) (53.9% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (26.9%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 1 month, up to and including 3 months (34.1%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 2: Job Zone 1-2: Very Little to Some Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Etchers and Engravers is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.
Limits
- Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
- Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.
Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0
Work environment
How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).
Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.
| Condition | Level | Compared with other occupations | Most common answer (O*NET survey) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contact with others | Very low | Lower on contact with others than 96% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Occasional contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Low | Lower on dealing with the public than 75% of occupations compared | 33% of surveyed respondents chose “Not important at all” |
| Teamwork | Very low | Lower on teamwork than 93% of occupations compared | 30% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | Moderate | Lower on freedom to make decisions than 54% of occupations compared | 51% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom” |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 79% of occupations compared | 56% of surveyed respondents chose “Every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 95% of occupations compared | 69% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Very low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 82% of occupations compared | 74% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | Moderate | Higher on consequence of error than 53% of occupations compared | 59% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very low
- Consequence of error: moderate
Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.
Full answer distributions
Contact with others
- No contact with others: 3.81%
- Occasional contact with others: 42.67%
- Contact with others about half the time: 2.36%
- Contact with others most of the time: 11.28%
- Constant contact with others: 39.89%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 33.17%
- Fairly important: 16.28%
- Important: 14.21%
- Very important: 14.25%
- Extremely important: 22.09%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 17.36%
- Fairly important: 7.7%
- Important: 26.96%
- Very important: 17.55%
- Extremely important: 30.43%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2017
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 2.74%
- Very little freedom: 0.84%
- Limited freedom: 31.98%
- Some freedom: 13.72%
- A lot of freedom: 50.72%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 4.71%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 21.72%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 17.23%
- Every day: 56.33%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Conflict situations
- Never: 19.48%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 68.62%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 5.93%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 5.97%
- Every day: 0%
n = 22, Incumbent 07/2017
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 7.96%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 73.76%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 10.37%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 0.84%
- Every day: 7.07%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 12.47%
- Fairly serious: 8.69%
- Serious: 59.15%
- Very serious: 2.36%
- Extremely serious: 17.33%
n = 23, Incumbent 07/2017
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O*NET-SOC 51-9194.00 · SOC 51-9194 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8