Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians
Diagnose, adjust, repair, or overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, dairy equipment, and irrigation systems.
Most important skills
- Equipment Maintenance
- Repairing
- Troubleshooting
- Operation and Control
- Critical Thinking
- Complex Problem Solving
- Operations Monitoring
- Quality Control Analysis
Key knowledge
- Mechanical
- Customer and Personal Service
- English Language
- Computers and Electronics
- Engineering and Technology
- Physics
- Mathematics
- Production and Processing
What the work involves
- Record details of repairs made and parts used.
- Reassemble machines and equipment following repair, testing operation and making adjustments, as necessary.
- Maintain, repair, and overhaul farm machinery and vehicles, such as tractors, harvesters, and irrigation systems.
- Examine and listen to equipment, read inspection reports, and confer with customers to locate and diagnose malfunctions.
- Dismantle defective machines for repair, using hand tools.
- Test and replace electrical components and wiring, using test meters, soldering equipment, and hand tools.
- Repair or replace defective parts, using hand tools, milling and woodworking machines, lathes, welding equipment, grinders, or saws.
- Clean and lubricate parts.
Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Realistic, Conventional, Investigative.
Qualifications and licensing
- Most common education
- Post-Secondary Certificate (51.5% of respondents)
- Related experience
- Over 1 year, up to and including 2 years (40%)
- On-the-job training
- Over 6 months, up to and including 1 year (39.5%)
- Preparation level
- O*NET job zone 3: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed
- Licensing
- Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.
Check before planning
- Licensing for Farm Equipment Mechanics and Service Technicians 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 | Moderate | Lower on contact with others than 51% of occupations compared | 63% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others” |
| Dealing with the public | Moderate | Higher on dealing with the public than 53% of occupations compared | 55% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Teamwork | Low | Lower on teamwork than 73% of occupations compared | 36% of surveyed respondents chose “Very important” |
| Freedom to make decisions | High | Higher on freedom to make decisions than 74% of occupations compared | — |
| Time pressure | High | Higher on time pressure than 68% of occupations compared | 53% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day” |
| Conflict situations | Very low | Lower on conflict situations than 97% of occupations compared | 43% of surveyed respondents chose “Never” |
| Dealing with unpleasant or angry people | Low | Lower on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 64% of occupations compared | 49% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a year or more but not every month” |
| Consequence of error | High | Higher on consequence of error than 68% of occupations compared | 34% of surveyed respondents chose “Very serious” |
Work-pressure profile
- Time pressure: high
- Conflict situations: very low
- Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: low
- Consequence of error: high
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: 0%
- Occasional contact with others: 4.14%
- Contact with others about half the time: 16.63%
- Contact with others most of the time: 16.02%
- Constant contact with others: 63.21%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with the public
- Not important at all: 11.32%
- Fairly important: 4.74%
- Important: 16.69%
- Very important: 55.39%
- Extremely important: 11.86%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Teamwork
- Not important at all: 0%
- Fairly important: 1.23%
- Important: 31.35%
- Very important: 35.73%
- Extremely important: 31.7%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Freedom to make decisions
- No freedom: 0%
- Very little freedom: 3.48%
- Limited freedom: 7.88%
- Some freedom: 33.18%
- A lot of freedom: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Time pressure
- Never: 0%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 1%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 18.14%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 52.8%
- Every day: 28.06%
n = 30, Incumbent 08/2025
Conflict situations
- Never: 43.1%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 32.67%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 13.86%
- Once a week or more but not every day: 10.37%
- Every day: 0%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people
- Never: 11.75%
- Once a year or more but not every month: 48.81%
- Once a month or more but not every week: 16.92%
- Once a week or more but not every day: suppressed by O*NET (low precision)
- Every day: 4.63%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
Consequence of error
- Not serious at all: 7.39%
- Fairly serious: 30.27%
- Serious: 2.83%
- Very serious: 34.28%
- Extremely serious: 25.24%
n = 31, Incumbent 08/2025
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O*NET-SOC 49-3041.00 · SOC 49-3041 (exact, high confidence) · dataset 2026.10.8