Electronics Technician, GS-0856
Definitions:
EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows: 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.)
EDUCATION: One year of full-time academic study is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. This education must have been successfully completed and obtained in an accredited business, technical school, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.
GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.
For GS-05:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-05 level:
One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-04 level in the Federal service that is in or related to the duties of the position to be filled and that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.
- Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Work as a technician, instructor, inspector, or mechanic that showed progression in theoretical and practical knowledge of electronic theory, and the characteristics function, operation, and capabilities of a variety of types of electronic equipment. This includes the use of schematic diagrams, test equipment, and the application of appropriate electronic formulas involved in such duties as testing, troubleshooting, modifying, designing, calibrating, installing, maintaining, repairing, constructing, developing, instructing on electronic equipment, or similar functions.
- **OR Experience in developing policies, standards, and procedures for maintenance, installation, or similar functions, provided the work clearly shows a specialized knowledge of the theories and principles of a variety electronic systems or equipment.
- **OR Experience doing bench repair of television and radio receivers in a commercial shop in which the applicant did troubleshooting on a variety of equipment and used such special test equipment as sweep generators, marker generators, oscilloscopes, and other equipment normally employed in such servicing.
**OR Successful completion of (a) all requirements for a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or electronics technology, (b) 3 years of study in an accredited (by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) curriculum in electronics, or (c) a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree that included major study or at least 24 semester hours in any combination of courses such as engineering, physical science, technology, or mathematics. At least 12 of the 24 semester hours must have been in electronics courses. (CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO COMBINE EDUCATION & SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE)
For GS-06:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-06 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-05 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include repairing and modifying various electronic instruments such as digital and electronic recorders, water-quality monitors, power supplies, and pressure transducers as well as operating a variety of sophisticated electronic equipment.
**OR One year of successfully completed graduate level education (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the equivalent) in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology, or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-07:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-07 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-06 level in the Federal service. Examples of GS-6 level experience may include following specific layout and schematic diagrams to construct or package simple devices or subunits of equipment. Under the review of higher graded technicians performed maintenance, operations, testing, or development work.
**OR One year of successfully completed graduate level education (18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours or the equivalent) in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology, or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary to do the work of this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-8:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-08 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-07 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include preparing circuit diagrams, laying out circuits to provide adequate mechanical mounting support for components, constructing breadboard models of equipment, tracing circuitry, diagnosing malfunctions and adjusting controls to achieve peak performance or preparing schematics and wiring diagrams for completed equipment.
**OR 2-years of progressively higher level graduate education (36 semester hours, 54 semester hours) leading to a master's or equivalent degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skill and abilities necessary to do the work of the this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-09:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-09 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-08 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include planning own work and assuring that it met established technical requirements as documented in manufacturers' handbooks and reporting to scientists or officials who use the equipment in their work.
**OR 2-years of progressively higher level graduate education (36 semester hours, 54 semester hours) leading to a master's or equivalent degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skill and abilities necessary to do the work of the this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-10:
Applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-10 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-09 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include install, maintain, operate, and test electronic equipment which is specially designed, constructed, or modified to fill a specific function; work with subsystems that are complex because of miniature size, density of circuitry, lack of available documentation, etc; work on equipment in remote spots, high towers or in cramped quarters without time for trial & error approached or bulky test equipment.
**OR 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skill and abilities necessary to do the work of the this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-11:
Applicants must meet one of the following to qualify for the GS-11 level:
One year of appropriate professional experience that is equivalent to at least the GS-10 level in the Federal service. Examples of such experience may include selecting or recommending approaches to solving unique design problems, developing new components or circuits in units or devices with very critical tolerances or performance characteristics, and conferring with scientists to gain understanding of the objectives desired.
**OR 3 years of progressively higher-level graduate education leading to a Ph.D. or equivalent doctoral degree in electrical engineering, electronics engineering, or engineering technology or other directly related field of study if it provided the knowledge, skill and abilities necessary to do the work of the this position.
**OR A combination of successfully completed graduate level education, as described above, and professional experience, as described above.
For GS-12:
Applicants must meet the following to qualify for the GS-12 level:
One year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the GS-11 level in the Federal service that is in or related to the duties of the position to be filled that equipped the applicant with the knowledge, skills and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position.
Examples of GS-11 experience may include: (1) performing development work and conducting research by application of previously established experimental and empirical methods and techniques, interpreting results and selecting or recommending approach appropriate to the solution of the design problem; (2) planning, organizing and executing a limited project involved in the development of a system with performance characteristics requiring solution of both design and operational problems with responsibility for time, materials, cost, safety and performance requirements. For examples 1-2, supervisory assistance was available to solve unusual problems and completed work was reviewed for compliance with overall project objectives.