Top 12 Electrical Engineering Technician Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the competitive field of electrical engineering, standing out as a technician takes a blend of sharp technical depth and steady, human soft skills. Put the right abilities on your resume and you don’t just look competent—you look indispensable, the person who can build, test, debug, and deliver without drama.

Electrical Engineering Technician Skills

1. AutoCAD
2. MATLAB
3. PLC Programming
4. Multisim
5. LabVIEW
6. PSpice
7. Oscilloscopes
8. Soldering
9. PCB Design
10. Simulink
11. Power Systems
12. VHDL

1. AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a computer‑aided design platform used to draft precise 2D schematics and 3D layouts. For electrical work, it speeds the creation of wiring diagrams, panel layouts, and harness documentation with consistent symbols and standards.

Why It's Important

Electrical Engineering Technicians rely on AutoCAD to produce accurate drawings, manage revisions fast, and coordinate cleanly with engineers, fabricators, and installers. Less guesswork. Fewer errors. Faster builds.

How to Improve AutoCAD Skills

Make your drawings tighter and your workflow quicker with habits that compound:

1. Use the electrical toolset: Tap into symbol libraries, wire numbering, and automatic reports to cut repetitive work.

2. Lean on shortcuts: Customize aliases and hotkeys; build muscle memory for layers, snaps, blocks, and selection tools.

3. Master blocks: Dynamic blocks, attributes, and data extraction keep symbols smart and documentation consistent.

4. Standardize: Templates, title blocks, plot styles, and layer states ensure every drawing lands on-spec.

5. External references (Xrefs): Split complex projects into manageable files and update once—everywhere.

6. Sheet Set Manager: Automate sheet creation, fields, and publishing for multi‑page packages.

7. Stay current: New versions often add small features that save big time—adopt them.

Build repeatable patterns, and your drawings will fly.

How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume

2. MATLAB

MATLAB is a high‑level environment for numerical computing, data analysis, visualization, and algorithm development. In electrical work, it’s a go-to for signal processing, controls, filtering, and fast prototyping.

Why It's Important

It turns raw data into insight and simulations into decisions. Quick iteration. Solid validation. Cleaner designs before hardware is touched.

How to Improve MATLAB Skills

Sharper MATLAB means cleaner code and more trustworthy results:

1. Start with the basics: Complete an introductory course (e.g., MATLAB Onramp) and practice core syntax daily.

2. Target toolboxes: Learn Signal Processing, Control System, and Optimization toolboxes relevant to your tasks.

3. Vectorize: Replace loops with matrix operations; profile your code and remove bottlenecks.

4. Use Live Scripts: Combine narrative, math, code, and plots for clear, shareable analysis.

5. Build test benches: Create unit tests for algorithms; lock in correctness as code evolves.

6. Explore Simulink ties: Exchange data, tune parameters, and co‑simulate where it helps.

7. Keep a toolbox notebook: Track functions you use, pitfalls, and performance tips for future you.

How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume

3. PLC Programming

PLC programming means writing logic that drives machines and processes—ladder, structured text, function blocks, and more—so factories move, test rigs run, and safety stays intact.

Why It's Important

It’s the heartbeat of automation. Reliable code turns sequences into throughput, diagnostics into uptime, and safety circuits into trust.

How to Improve PLC Programming Skills

Build good habits into every rung and routine:

1. Own the fundamentals: Scan cycles, task priorities, memory types, addressing, and I/O mapping.

2. Code clearly: Use structured text for complex logic; ladder for readability on the floor.

3. Modularize: Break processes into reusable function blocks with clean interfaces and comments that matter.

4. Simulate first: Test with built‑in simulators or virtual PLCs; validate interlocks and edge cases early.

5. Follow standards: Align with IEC 61131‑3 practices and safety concepts from IEC 61508 where applicable.

6. Design for troubleshooting: Add status bits, alarms, timestamps, and diagnostics hooks.

7. Version control: Track changes, tag releases, and keep a changelog tied to machines.

8. HMI harmony: Map tags cleanly and use consistent naming between PLC and HMI/SCADA.

How to Display PLC Programming Skills on Your Resume

4. Multisim

Multisim lets you design and simulate electronic circuits before you ever touch a breadboard or PCB. Quick iterations, instant measurements, fewer surprises.

Why It's Important

It cuts prototype time, reveals design flaws early, and helps you teach, learn, and verify with clarity.

How to Improve Multisim Skills

Speed and accuracy come from practice and process:

1. Master the environment: Place, wire, annotate, and probe without hesitation.

2. Grow libraries: Build custom components and models when stock parts don’t match reality.

3. Use analysis tools: AC/DC sweeps, transient runs, noise, and Monte Carlo—learn when each matters.

4. Parameterize: Turn key values into parameters; sweep them to see margins and sensitivities.

5. Document as you go: Notes, measurement cursors, and saved analyses make your work reproducible.

6. Cross‑check with hardware: Correlate simulated results with bench data and tighten models.

How to Display Multisim Skills on Your Resume

5. LabVIEW

LabVIEW is a graphical platform for instrument control, data acquisition, and test automation. Drag blocks, wire them up, run tests, collect data, ship reports.

Why It's Important

It connects hardware and measurement fast, scales to complex rigs, and turns manual testing into repeatable, automated workflows.

How to Improve LabVIEW Skills

Make your VIs readable, reliable, and ready for change:

1. Learn core patterns: Producer/consumer loops, state machines, queues, and events—these are your building blocks.

2. Wire with intent: Keep front panels clean; use typedefs, strict typedefs, and clusters to tame complexity.

3. Error handling: Propagate errors, log them, and fail gracefully with context.

4. Project structure: Use libraries and project files; separate UI, logic, and drivers.

5. Templates and examples: Start from proven frameworks; don’t reinvent the wheel for DAQ and instrument control.

6. Continuous learning: Follow best practices and iterate on code reviews with your team.

How to Display LabVIEW Skills on Your Resume

6. PSpice

PSpice simulates analog and mixed‑signal circuits so you can probe behavior, stress parts, and validate designs before fabrication.

Why It's Important

It exposes edge cases, catches unstable loops, and reveals tolerance problems long before boards arrive.

How to Improve PSpice Skills

Precision in, clarity out:

1. Model accuracy: Use vendor models where possible; adjust parameters to match measured parts.

2. Advanced studies: Run parametric sweeps, temperature sweeps, Monte Carlo, and worst‑case analyses to test robustness.

3. Convergence hygiene: Set realistic initial conditions and time steps; simplify where necessary.

4. Subcircuits and hierarchy: Build reusable blocks and test them in isolation.

5. Correlation: Compare simulation to scope and network analyzer data; refine until they rhyme.

6. Document assumptions: Note model limits, boundary conditions, and what you didn’t simulate.

How to Display PSpice Skills on Your Resume

7. Oscilloscopes

An oscilloscope displays voltage over time, letting you see waveforms, glitches, jitter, and noise right where they live.

Why It's Important

It’s the truth machine for electronics. You can’t fix what you can’t see, and the scope shows you the signal’s story in real time.

How to Improve Oscilloscopes Skills

Operate like a pro, measure like a skeptic:

1. Probe correctly: Compensate passive probes, choose the right attenuation, use ground springs, and grab differential probes for floating measurements.

2. Trigger smart: Edge, pulse width, runt, setup/hold, and serial bus triggers isolate the exact event you need.

3. Mind bandwidth and sampling: Keep signal bandwidth within scope limits; avoid aliasing with adequate sample rates and proper acquisition modes.

4. Quantify, don’t guess: Use automatic measurements, cursors, statistics, and math/FFT for frequency and noise analysis.

5. Decode protocols: I2C, SPI, UART, CAN—bus decode options speed up digital troubleshooting.

6. Safety first: Never float earth‑referenced scopes improperly; use isolation techniques or differential inputs when required.

7. Save everything: Capture setups, screen images, and waveform data so tests are repeatable and sharable.

How to Display Oscilloscopes Skills on Your Resume

8. Soldering

Soldering joins components with molten alloy, creating durable, low‑resistance connections that survive heat, vibration, and time when done right.

Why It's Important

Without strong, clean joints, circuits fail. Good soldering keeps prototypes honest and production boards dependable.

How to Improve Soldering Skills

Skill comes from repetition, but technique sets the ceiling:

1. Right tools: Temperature‑controlled iron, quality tips, lead‑free or leaded solder as required, flux that matches the job, proper tweezers and magnification.

2. Prep surfaces: Clean pads and leads; tin the tip; apply flux generously but wisely.

3. Temperature and dwell: Use the lowest effective temperature; heat pad and lead together; feed solder into the joint, not the tip.

4. SMD methods: Practice drag soldering for fine‑pitch ICs and hot‑air rework for removal and reflow.

5. Inspection: Look for smooth, shiny fillets; avoid cold joints, voids, and bridges. Use microscopes when needed.

6. Rework discipline: Wick and solder sucker techniques; add flux, re‑flow, and clean residues.

7. Safety: Ventilation, eye protection, ESD control, and tidy cable management to keep burns and boards safe.

How to Display Soldering Skills on Your Resume

9. PCB Design

PCB design turns a schematic into a manufacturable board—component placement, routing, stackup, clearances, and all the small choices that decide performance and yield.

Why It's Important

A disciplined layout reduces EMI, heat, cost, and rework. Good boards build easily and behave predictably.

How to Improve PCB Design Skills

Clarity in layout equals stability in system behavior:

1. Choose the right tools: Work with platforms that fit your needs—Altium Designer, KiCad, or Fusion 360 Electronics are common choices.

2. Plan placement: Group functional blocks; keep return paths short; respect keep‑outs and thermal zones.

3. Grounding and power: Solid planes beat islands; decouple at the pins with correct values and package sizes.

4. Trace strategy: Match lengths where needed, control impedance, respect current capacity, and avoid sharp corners on high‑speed routes.

5. Design for manufacturability: Follow fab and assembly rules; define stackups; use clear silkscreen and fiducials.

6. Checklists and reviews: ERC/DRC are a start; add peer reviews and pre‑flight checks before you send files out.

7. Prototype, then tune: Measure power integrity, signal integrity, and thermals; feed findings back into Rev B.

How to Display PCB Design Skills on Your Resume

10. Simulink

Simulink is a graphical environment for modeling, simulating, and analyzing dynamic systems—from power electronics to control loops and embedded algorithms.

Why It's Important

It lets you test complex behavior without a lab full of hardware, iterate rapidly, and hand off models for implementation when they’re ready.

How to Improve Simulink Skills

Build models that are readable, robust, and fast:

1. Learn the canvas: Blocks, signals, subsystems, masks, and libraries—get comfortable moving quickly.

2. Simulation discipline: Choose the right solvers and step sizes; log signals; compare runs with data inspectors.

3. Parameter management: Centralize tunable parameters; sweep them to study stability and margins.

4. Test harnesses: Create test benches around subsystems; automate checks with assessments.

5. Code generation awareness: If targeting embedded systems, follow code gen guidelines and fixed‑step constraints.

6. Hardware‑in‑the‑loop: When applicable, validate controllers against real‑time targets before deployment.

7. Integrate with MATLAB: Use scripts to automate runs, manage variants, and post‑process results.

How to Display Simulink Skills on Your Resume

11. Power Systems

Power systems encompass generation, transmission, distribution, and the protection and control gear that keeps electricity flowing safely and reliably.

Why It's Important

Modern life hangs on stable power. Technicians keep that backbone healthy—testing equipment, reading protection schemes, and keeping downtime rare.

How to Improve Power Systems Skills

Think resilience, safety, and smart diagnostics:

1. Grid fundamentals: Strengthen knowledge of three‑phase systems, transformers, per‑unit analysis, and fault types.

2. Protection awareness: Understand relays, CT/VT selection, coordination, and settings verification.

3. SCADA and communications: Get comfortable with RTUs, protocols, alarms, and historical data analysis.

4. Power quality: Measure and interpret harmonics, flicker, sags/swells; propose mitigation (filters, UPS, reactive support).

5. Renewables and storage: Learn interconnection requirements, inverters, and impacts on protection and stability.

6. Predictive maintenance: Use infrared, partial discharge, vibration, and oil testing; trend data to plan interventions.

7. Codes and safety: Stay aligned with applicable standards and safe work practices (e.g., arc flash studies, labeling, PPE).

8. Simulation tools: Practice with power system software for load flow, short circuit, and coordination studies.

How to Display Power Systems Skills on Your Resume

12. VHDL

VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) describes and simulates digital hardware—registers, state machines, interfaces—on the path to FPGAs or ASICs.

Why It's Important

It lets you verify logic before silicon or configuration, reducing expensive mistakes and tightening development loops.

How to Improve VHDL Skills

Clarity in code, rigor in test:

1. Ground yourself in standards: Learn core constructs and common packages aligned with IEEE 1076.

2. Write testbenches: Self‑checking testbenches with stimuli, scoreboards, and assertions catch regressions quickly.

3. Synthesis‑friendly style: Use synchronous design, clear reset strategy, and avoid constructs that won’t map to hardware well.

4. Simulate thoroughly: Step through with waveform viewers; exercise corner cases and timing.

5. Target real devices: Practice flows with common FPGA toolchains; constrain clocks and I/O cleanly.

6. Package and reuse: Organize code into libraries; document interfaces and timing expectations.

How to Display VHDL Skills on Your Resume