Top 12 Engineering Technologist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today’s crowded hiring landscape, an engineering technologist stands out by blending sharp technical chops with clear-thinking communication and problem-solving. The skills below will strengthen your resume and sharpen your day-to-day impact.

Engineering Technologist Skills

1. AutoCAD
2. MATLAB
3. SolidWorks
4. Python
5. LabVIEW
6. Revit
7. PLC Programming
8. Ansys
9. 3D Printing
10. Lean Manufacturing
11. Project Management
12. Renewable Energy

1. AutoCAD

AutoCAD is a CAD platform for crafting precise 2D/3D drawings and models that underpin planning, design, and analysis across engineering projects.

Why It's Important

It delivers accuracy and speed. You iterate faster, share clearer intent, and cut rework by catching conflicts on-screen instead of on-site.

How to Improve AutoCAD Skills

1. Nail the fundamentals: Core drawing, editing, layers, blocks, and constraints—master them first using Autodesk’s tutorials and guides.

2. Move by muscle memory: Learn keyboard shortcuts and custom aliases. Seconds saved compound over a project.

3. Shape your workspace: Tool palettes, ribbons, and profiles tailored to your tasks keep you quick and consistent.

4. Practice on real problems: Rebuild legacy drawings. Redline and refine. Short, frequent reps beat occasional marathons.

5. Stay current: Track release notes and new features; adopt what trims steps or adds clarity.

6. Tap the community: User forums and groups surface tricks, macros, and fixes you won’t find in manuals.

7. Seek structure: Workshops and webinars compress learning time and expose modern workflows.

8. Certify: Autodesk certifications signal proficiency and discipline.

How to Display AutoCAD Skills on Your Resume

2. MATLAB

MATLAB is a high-level environment for numerical computing, visualization, algorithm development, and simulation—perfect for signal processing, controls, and data-heavy analysis.

Why It's Important

It shrinks the gap between idea and insight. From quick modeling to full simulations, you test, tune, and prove designs faster.

How to Improve MATLAB Skills

1. Build a solid base: Vectors, matrices, scripts, functions, and plotting. MathWorks intro courses help anchor the basics.

2. Learn by doing: Recreate published examples, then push them. Small, targeted projects cement concepts.

3. Use the right toolbox: Signal, Control, Optimization, Image Processing—lean on specialized toolboxes to solve the right problem the right way.

4. Code efficiently: Vectorize, preallocate, and use built-ins. Cleaner code, faster runs.

5. Explore Simulink: Model-based design clarifies complex systems and eases controller tuning and verification.

6. Stay engaged: MATLAB communities and file-sharing hubs offer patterns, utilities, and inspiration.

7. Advance continuously: Training paths and certifications keep skills sharp and relevant.

How to Display MATLAB Skills on Your Resume

3. SolidWorks

SolidWorks is a CAD/CAE platform for 3D modeling, simulation, and detailed mechanical drawings—ideal for parts, assemblies, and manufacturable documentation.

Why It's Important

You visualize, validate, and iterate fast. Designs become manufacturable earlier, with fewer surprises downstream.

How to Improve SolidWorks Skills

1. Daily modeling reps: Sketch wisely, constrain thoughtfully, and use design intent to keep models robust.

2. Take structured courses: Training on LinkedIn Learning and similar platforms accelerates growth.

3. Pursue certifications: CSWA, CSWP, and beyond demonstrate capability and discipline.

4. Use built-in help: FeatureManager tips, tutorials, and sample files answer questions in context.

5. Learn simulation basics: Validate stiffness, stress, and motion early to steer designs.

6. Join user groups: Peer discussions surface faster techniques and practical templates.

How to Display SolidWorks Skills on Your Resume

4. Python

Python is a versatile language with clean syntax, widely used for automation, data analysis, scientific computing, and integration glue.

Why It's Important

It lets you stitch systems together, crunch data, and automate the dull work—freeing time for the hard problems.

How to Improve Python Skills

1. Master fundamentals: Types, functions, modules, exceptions, packaging. Official docs and primers are gold.

2. Work with data: Pandas and NumPy for manipulation and math. Learn indexing tricks and vectorization.

3. Visualize: Tell stories with Matplotlib and Seaborn. Tight, clear plots win arguments.

4. Automate: Scripts for file ops, reports, and APIs. Automate the Boring Stuff is a friendly springboard.

5. Think in objects: OOP patterns keep larger codebases tidy and extensible.

6. Use version control: Git is non-negotiable for collaboration and traceability.

7. Ship small projects: Real deliverables beat endless tutorials. Share on GitHub and iterate.

8. Debug well: pdb, logging, and tests save hours. Build a habit of quick, isolated checks.

9. Join communities: Learn from Q&A hubs and Python-focused groups; ask, answer, improve.

How to Display Python Skills on Your Resume

5. LabVIEW

LabVIEW is a graphical programming platform for data acquisition, instrument control, test, and industrial automation.

Why It's Important

It streamlines building measurement and control systems, letting you prototype quickly and scale to robust deployments without reinventing low-level plumbing.

How to Improve LabVIEW Skills

1. Internalize dataflow: Understand execution order, wires, and error clusters—clarity here prevents race conditions.

2. Use templates and frameworks: Producer–consumer, state machines, and queued message handlers keep systems clean and testable.

3. Modularize: Reusable VIs with clear connectors and documentation pay back every time.

4. Debug deliberately: Probes, execution highlighting, and unit tests catch issues early.

5. Adopt OOP where it helps: LabVIEW classes bring structure to complex behaviors.

6. Engage the NI community: Forums, user groups, and events like NI Connect surface battle-tested patterns.

7. Consider certification: CLAD, CLD, and CLA guide study and validate capability.

How to Display LabVIEW Skills on Your Resume

6. Revit

Revit is a BIM platform for designing, coordinating, and documenting building projects in 3D throughout the lifecycle.

Why It's Important

BIM unifies teams and reduces clashes. With one consistent model, you coordinate disciplines, analyze earlier, and deliver cleaner packages.

How to Improve Revit Skills

1. Take structured training: Start with foundational and advanced courses to ground core workflows.

2. Practice with purpose: Model real spaces, detail views, and schedules—repeat until it feels second nature.

3. Leverage communities: Revit-focused forums and local groups are rich with templates and troubleshooting wisdom.

4. Watch practitioner channels: Creators like The Revit Kid and Balkan Architect share practical tricks you can apply immediately.

5. Adopt useful add-ins: Curate tools that speed QA, sheet creation, parameters, and export tasks.

6. Update yearly: New releases add features and performance boosts worth learning.

How to Display Revit Skills on Your Resume

7. PLC Programming

PLC programming means writing logic for industrial controllers—often in Ladder Logic, Structured Text, or Function Block Diagram—to automate machines and processes safely and reliably.

Why It's Important

It’s the heartbeat of modern plants. Good PLC code boosts throughput, cuts downtime, and keeps people and equipment safe.

How to Improve PLC Programming Skills

1. Ground yourself in controls: Discrete logic, scan cycles, I/O mapping, and debouncing—know what the controller sees.

2. Master Ladder Logic: It’s ubiquitous. Clear rung structure and comments make maintenance painless.

3. Practice with real hardware or sims: Start with simple start/stop circuits, then scale to interlocks and state machines.

4. Learn your platform: Siemens, Rockwell, Beckhoff, and others have quirks—study manuals and vendor examples.

5. Simulate first: Test sequences and fault cases virtually to avoid on-floor surprises.

6. Join practitioner communities: Forums and tutorial hubs like RealPars or PLCTalk surface practical patterns.

7. Collaborate and review: Share code on version control, request reviews, and standardize naming and comments.

8. Advance with courses: Target motion control, safety PLCs, and networking (PROFINET, EtherNet/IP) as you grow.

How to Display PLC Programming Skills on Your Resume

8. Ansys

Ansys is a suite for engineering simulation—structures, fluids, electromagnetics, and multiphysics—used to predict and optimize performance before cutting metal.

Why It's Important

Simulation trims prototypes, reveals failure modes early, and guides lighter, stronger, smarter designs.

How to Improve Ansys Skills

1. Start with fundamentals: Meshing, boundary conditions, solver settings. A solid base prevents garbage-in, garbage-out.

2. Practice on canonical problems: Beams in bending, pipe flow, heat transfer plates—then step into your domain’s nuances.

3. Specialize: Mechanical, Fluent, HFSS—go deep where your projects live.

4. Validate with hand calcs: Back-of-the-envelope checks build trust in results.

5. Study application notes: Vendor examples and university modules show robust workflows.

6. Keep pace with releases: New solvers, GPU options, and meshing tools can slash runtimes and improve fidelity.

How to Display Ansys Skills on Your Resume

9. 3D Printing

3D printing builds parts layer by layer from digital models, enabling rapid prototypes, intricate geometries, and short-run production without tooling.

Why It's Important

Fast iterations, lower cost for complex shapes, and freedom to design for function, not just manufacturability.

How to Improve 3D Printing Skills

1. Tune parameters: Dial in layer height, speed, nozzle temp, and cooling. Small tweaks, big gains.

2. Choose materials wisely: PLA, PETG, ABS, nylon, composites—match strength, temperature, and chemical needs. Explore data from resources like the Materials Project.

3. Design for additive: Optimize infill, wall thickness, overhangs, and orientation. Reduce supports through geometry.

4. Simulate and slice smart: Use simulation and advanced slicer features to anticipate warping, shrink, and stress.

5. Upgrade strategically: Hardened nozzles, direct drive extruders, better build plates—reliability goes up, frustration down.

6. Post-process: Sanding, vapor smoothing, annealing, or resin post-cure can lift surface finish and strength.

7. Track the field: Follow practitioner sites and manufacturer notes for emerging materials and methods.

How to Display 3D Printing Skills on Your Resume

10. Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing is a disciplined approach to eliminate waste and amplify value—driven by continuous improvement, standard work, and respect for people.

Why It's Important

Less waste, better flow, higher quality. Lean lifts productivity while making problems visible and solvable.

How to Improve Lean Manufacturing Skills

1. Map the value stream: Chart material and information flow. Spot bottlenecks and delays. Fix the constraints that matter.

2. Implement 5S: Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain. Clarity in the workspace speeds everything else.

3. Practice Kaizen: Small, daily improvements beat rare, heroic overhauls. Engage the whole team.

4. Adopt Just-in-Time: Make what’s needed, when needed, in the amount needed. Lower inventory, better responsiveness.

5. Use root cause analysis: 5 Whys and fishbone diagrams prevent symptom-chasing.

6. Standardize work: Document best-known methods. Train to them. Improve them. Repeat.

7. Automate wisely: Add technology where it reduces variability or risk—never to hide a broken process.

8. Invest in people: Teach problem-solving, empower ownership, celebrate improvements.

How to Display Lean Manufacturing Skills on Your Resume

11. Project Management

Project management directs scope, schedule, and cost—coordinating people and technical work so engineering goals land on time with the right quality.

Why It's Important

Good projects don’t happen by accident. Clear plans, steady communication, and active risk control keep delivery predictable.

How to Improve Project Management Skills

1. Use the right tools: Task boards, Gantt charts, and dashboards keep priorities visible and teams aligned.

2. Apply Agile where it fits: Scrum or Kanban can boost adaptability and flow in iterative engineering work.

3. Communicate deliberately: Cadence meetings, crisp updates, and decision logs reduce churn.

4. Manage risk early: Identify, quantify, mitigate. Review often; adjust as reality shifts.

5. Forecast with data: Use burn charts, throughput, and earned value to guide course corrections.

6. Hone time management: Time-blocking, priority tiers, and buffer planning tame context switching.

7. Keep learning: Courses and certifications (PMP, PRINCE2, Agile) add structure and shared language.

How to Display Project Management Skills on Your Resume

12. Renewable Energy

Renewable energy draws power from sources that replenish—sun, wind, water, geothermal—at human timescales. It’s central to decarbonization and resilient infrastructure.

Why It's Important

Lower emissions, diversified supply, and long-term cost stability. The engineering challenge is integration at scale.

How to Improve Renewable Energy Skills

1. Advance materials: Follow research from groups like NREL to understand higher-efficiency cells, blades, and coatings.

2. Strengthen storage: Track battery chemistries and power electronics that smooth intermittency; IRENA reports are useful.

3. Integrate with the grid: Learn smart inverters, forecasting, and demand response; organizations like SEPA share practices.

4. Optimize systems: Use SCADA, digital twins, and IoT telemetry for real-time monitoring and predictive maintenance. Explore literature through sources like IEEE Xplore.

5. Know the policy landscape: Incentives, interconnection rules, and funding shape feasibility; DOE updates help you navigate.

How to Display Renewable Energy Skills on Your Resume