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Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies, Other (CIP 15.0399)

A specialized electrical-tech catchall with reshoring tailwinds and ABET-quality variance

CIP 15.0399 is a deliberately broad category that captures specialized electrical and electronic engineering technology programs that do not fit the named CIP 15.0303 (Electrical/Electronic/Communications) or 15.0307 (Computer Hardware) tracks. With 447 completions across 58 institutions in the latest reporting year and a five-year median income of $76,599, graduates land in calibration, test, controls, semiconductor process, and field-service roles — but the program label hides real variability between Microelectronics Technology associate degrees and ETAC-of-ABET bachelor's-track programs. The CHIPS Act, EV-battery plant build-out, and IIJA-funded utility upgrades are pulling on this labor pool hard, and that demand explains why the bachelor's split ($84,267) outpaces the associate split ($70,464). The honest read: this is a strong wage-to-tuition ratio if you (a) verify ETAC accreditation, (b) stack vendor and cross-domain certifications, and (c) target one of the four pivot lanes — power systems, test and measurement, semiconductor process, or defense electronics.

Schools offering
58
Annual completions
447
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$77k

About this major

CIP 15.0399 sits inside the federal Engineering Technologies/Technicians family (CIP 15) as the .99 catchall for electrical and electronic engineering technology programs that do not fit the named codes. The named siblings are CIP 15.0303 (Electrical, Electronic, and Communications Engineering Technology — the dominant code with 3,682 annual completions), 15.0304 (Laser and Optical Technology), 15.0305 (Telecommunications Technology), and 15.0307 (Computer Hardware Technology). The federal CIP definition gives Microelectronics Technology as the canonical example for 15.0399, which signals that many of the programs reporting here are organized around semiconductor process work, clean-room fabrication, MEMS device handling, or specialized embedded hardware. Because the code is deliberately broad, specific program content varies considerably by institution: a 60-credit Microelectronics Technology associate at a community college near a regional fab looks nothing like a 120-credit ETAC-of-ABET-accredited bachelor's track in microelectronics engineering technology at a four-year institution. The 447-completion annual flow is small relative to 15.0303, but it is concentrated in regions with a single large employer cluster — Ohio (Intel, GE Aviation), New Jersey (Thomas Edison State's adult-completer pipeline), Kentucky (Toyota and Ford EV-battery operations), and Puerto Rico (medical-device and pharma-electronics manufacturing). Cross-CIP siblings worth knowing: 15.1202 (Computer/Information Technology Services Administration and Management) for IT-leaning students, 47.0103 (Communications Systems Installation and Repair) for hands-on installation work that does not require ETAC accreditation, 47.0105 (Industrial Electronics Technology) for plant-floor controls, and 14.4701 (Electrical and Computer Engineering) for the four-year engineering route with PE-eligibility. The accreditation distinction matters: engineering technology programs are accredited under ABET's Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC), while engineering programs are accredited under EAC. Employers who pay technologist-level salaries — Lockheed, Raytheon, Intel, large utilities — read ETAC accreditation as the threshold credential, and a 15.0399 program without ETAC accreditation will not get the same résumé look as a 15.0303 program with it.

The demand picture is unusually strong for this corner of the workforce. The CHIPS and Science Act has triggered the largest semiconductor fab build-out in U.S. history — TSMC Arizona, Intel Ohio, Samsung Taylor (Texas), Micron New York, and GlobalFoundries New York and Vermont — and every one of those projects requires hundreds of equipment technicians and process technicians per fab in addition to the engineers. The EV-battery cell plant build-out adds another layer: LG Energy Solution, SK On, Samsung SDI, Panasonic, Tesla, and Stellantis are standing up battery cell and module plants in Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, and those plants need controls technicians, electrical commissioning techs, and test-cell operators. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act funds utility transmission and distribution upgrades, which pulls on the protective-relay-tech and substation-commissioning labor pool — a separate $50 billion sub-market. Add defense modernization (the Sentinel ICBM program, Columbia-class submarines, B-21 Raider, and the next-generation interceptor) and the SOC 17-3023 occupation lands in a multi-decade growth corridor even though BLS's headline projected growth rate (0.6% over a 10-year window) understates it. The employer concentration explains why Ohio community colleges dominate the top-completer list in this dataset: Intel's Licking County fab pulled forward technician training pipelines across Zane State, Lorain County, and Terra State, and the regional employer pull tends to compress time-to-employment to under three months for graduates who finish with an industrial-electronics or microelectronics specialization plus an ISA CCST or NICET cert.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Electrical and electronic engineering technologists and technicians $77k +0.6% Associate's degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$77k

Associate's vs Bachelor's — early-career earnings

Associate's

$70k

Bachelor's

$84k

Who this major is for

This major fits a specific student profile, and the .99 label means the fit is narrower than CIP 15.0303 — read the curriculum carefully before treating any 15.0399 program as interchangeable with another.

Good fit if you: are mechanically and electrically curious in equal measure, comfortable with hand tools and a multimeter, and willing to take a four-hour shift in a clean-room bunny suit or a substation in 95-degree heat; want a hands-on technical career without the four-year theoretical math sequence required for a CIP 14.4701 electrical engineering degree; live in or are willing to relocate to a regional employer cluster (Ohio for Intel, Texas/Arizona for TSMC and Samsung, Kentucky/Tennessee for EV batteries, New York for Micron and GlobalFoundries, mid-Atlantic for defense electronics); are willing to stack three to five vendor or industry certifications during and after the degree; and want a $70,000–$90,000 ceiling within five to seven years without a four-year-college tuition bill, with the option to bridge to a bachelor's via 2+2 transfer if you decide later that the technologist title and federal-lab access are worth it. Bachelor's-track ETAC graduates in this CIP have a realistic shot at engineering-titled roles after experience even without sitting for the PE.

Not a good fit if you: want to design new semiconductor devices, write firmware for production systems, or lead R&D programs — those roles want CIP 14.4701 (Electrical Engineering) or CIP 14.0901 (Computer Engineering) graduates with an EAC-of-ABET bachelor's. The 15.0399 path can transition there, but it requires a second degree and is rarely the cheapest route. Also a poor fit if you dislike physical work, prefer pure-software roles, or are unwilling to relocate — the demand for these technicians is geographically concentrated, and the wage premium evaporates quickly outside the employer-cluster regions. Finally, if the specific 15.0399 program you're considering is not ETAC-of-ABET accredited, the credential will not perform the way the wage data above suggests; pick a CIP 15.0303 ETAC program elsewhere instead.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
Thomas Edison State University Trenton, NJ 54 0 54
Zane State College Zanesville, OH 33 8 41
Lorain County Community College Elyria, OH 15 8 23
Ozarks Technical Community College Springfield, MO 22 0 22
Instituto Tecnologico de Puerto Rico-Recinto de Manati Manati, PR 19 0 19
Bluegrass Community and Technical College Lexington, KY 18 0 18
Jefferson Community and Technical College Louisville, KY 17 0 17
Terra State Community College Fremont, OH 16 0 16
Southeastern Community College Whiteville, NC 16 0 16
Owensboro Community and Technical College Owensboro, KY 15 0 15
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Electrical, Electronic, and Communications Engineering Technology/Technician

3,682 completions/yr

Engineering Technologies/Technicians, General

2,524 completions/yr

Science Technologies/Technicians, Other

2,437 completions/yr

Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians, Other

1,150 completions/yr

Architectural Engineering Technologies/Technicians

1,056 completions/yr

Civil Engineering Technologies/Technicians

888 completions/yr

Electromechanical Technologies/Technicians, Other

550 completions/yr

Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians, Other

409 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

How is CIP 15.0399 different from CIP 15.0303 (Electrical, Electronic, and Communications Engineering Technology)?
CIP 15.0303 is the named, mainstream electrical engineering technology code — it carries 3,682 completions per year and is what most ETAC-of-ABET-accredited bachelor's and associate programs are reported under. CIP 15.0399 is a catchall for programs the institution considers specialized enough that they don't fit 15.0303, 15.0304 (Laser/Optical), 15.0305 (Telecommunications), or 15.0307 (Computer Hardware). The example listed in the federal CIP definition is Microelectronics Technology, which leans toward semiconductor fabrication and clean-room work rather than the general circuit-design and instrumentation focus of 15.0303. Earnings are similar in this dataset, but 15.0399 graduates often have a narrower technical specialty that maps directly to a regional employer cluster — for instance, Ohio community colleges placing graduates into Intel's Licking County fab. If you compare two programs and one reports under 15.0303 and the other under 15.0399, ask the program director why — the answer reveals what the curriculum is actually built around.
Should I pick this CIP over a non-ABET 'engineering technology' program at another school?
Yes, if and only if the 15.0399 program you're considering is itself ETAC-of-ABET accredited. The CIP code is a federal taxonomy label — it tells you what the program calls itself, not whether it meets engineering technology accreditation standards. ETAC of ABET (Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission) is the meaningful credential for hiring at companies like Lockheed, Raytheon, GE, Intel, and most utility employers, and many state licensure boards require ETAC graduation for engineering-technologist titles. Ask the program directly: 'Is this program ETAC of ABET accredited at the associate or bachelor's level?' If the answer is no or 'we're applying,' weigh that against a named ETAC-accredited 15.0303 program at a different school. ABET maintains a public accreditation database — verify before tuition is paid, not after.
What jobs does this major realistically lead to in the first three years?
The federal occupational anchor is SOC 17-3023, Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians, with a BLS median wage of $77,180 and a typical entry credential of an associate degree. In practice, first-job titles cluster in four pivot lanes: (1) power systems and utility T&D — substation commissioning, protective-relay tech, SCADA tech at investor-owned utilities and IIJA-funded grid contractors; (2) test and measurement — field application engineers and calibration techs at Keysight, Tektronix, Rohde & Schwarz, and ISO-17025 cal labs; (3) semiconductor process — equipment technicians at Applied Materials, Lam Research, ASML field service, and at fabs themselves (Intel, TSMC Arizona, Micron, Samsung Taylor); (4) defense electronics — field engineer and integration tech roles at Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and BAE Systems. Entry wages run $50,000–$65,000; with five years and stacked certifications (ETA-I CET, NICET, ASNT, ISA CCST), $70,000–$90,000 is normal. Bachelor's graduates from ETAC programs sometimes earn engineering-titled roles after a few years even without a PE license.
Will AI automate these jobs away?
Not the parts that pay. Routine documentation, standardized test-report generation, and first-pass schematic review are being automated by RPA and large language models — that is real, and it compresses entry-level technician headcount on simpler instrumentation work. What is durable is the physical-world layer: commissioning a substation, troubleshooting a misbehaving servo loop on a wafer-handling robot, calibrating an oscilloscope to NIST traceability, or finding the broken solder joint on a flight-qualified circuit board. AI cannot put hands on hardware, climb a transmission tower, or pass a Level III NDT certification, and the cost of misdiagnosis in those settings is high enough that employers will keep humans in the loop for the foreseeable future. The risk profile favors graduates who deliberately build hands-on hours and a stack of vendor certifications over those who treat the credential as a paperwork exercise.
Why are most of the top schools community colleges, and is the bachelor's worth the extra two years?
The completer mix in this dataset is heavily community-college dominated — Thomas Edison State University, Zane State College, Lorain County Community College, Ozarks Tech, and most other top producers are two-year institutions awarding associate degrees. That is consistent with how the electrical engineering technology labor market actually hires: an ETAC-ETAC of ABET associate plus the right vendor stack opens almost every door at the technician level. The bachelor's premium in this dataset ($84,267 vs. $70,464, a $13,800 difference) shows up over five years and tends to widen further when graduates pursue lead-technician, supervisory, or technologist titles that some employers gate behind a four-year credential. If your target is bench-test or field-service work at a regional employer, the associate is sufficient and the math works fast. If your target is technologist roles in defense, federal lab, or large utility settings — or if you want optionality to move into engineering-titled positions later — the bachelor's pays back the additional tuition over a 10–15 year horizon. Many programs (including Zane State and Lorain County in this list) offer 2+2 transfer pathways into ETAC-accredited bachelor's tracks at four-year partners, which is the lowest-tuition route to the bachelor's wage premium.
Which certifications should I plan to stack alongside the degree?
Treat certifications as part of the program, not as something you do later. The high-leverage stack depends on your pivot lane. For power systems and utility work: NICET Levels I–III in Electrical Power Testing, plus relay-tech certifications from manufacturers like SEL or GE. For test and measurement: ETA-I Certified Electronics Technician (CET), the manufacturer-specific field engineer certifications from Keysight, Tektronix, or Rohde & Schwarz, and ISO-17025 calibration training. For semiconductor process: SEMI standards training, vendor-specific certifications from Applied Materials University, Lam Research, or ASML field service academies — most are obtained on the job but a few are open to students. For defense electronics: IPC-A-610 and J-STD-001 soldering certifications, ASNT Level II nondestructive testing if you're touching aerospace hardware, and a Secret-eligible background to start the clearance process. ISA CCST (Certified Control Systems Technician) is broadly useful across all four lanes. Programs that bake these certifications into the curriculum — or pay for them — are signaling that they understand the labor market.