Mechanical Assembler

To some people, the phrase “some assembly required” is cringe-worthy. They hate following instructions, they hate small pieces, and they hate exercising their patience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a board game, a dining room table, or a camping tent: If they have to build it, they won’t buy it.

For others, however, assembling is exciting. They’re attracted to the challenge of putting together a real-life puzzle. They enjoy the intricacy. And most of all, they like the feeling of accomplishment when they’re done.

If you’re the latter — someone who grew up obsessed with erector sets and 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzles — you might be a Mechanical Assembler, which means you’re employed by a manufacturing company to work on its production line, assembling its products. Those products can range from small items like smartphones and computers to large ones like aircraft and automobiles.

Whatever the product, the process is generally the same: As part of an assembly line, as the Mechanical Assembler you read engineering blueprints and instructions, then follow them in order to put together parts or products, relying on a variety of tools to screw, solder, weld, glue, and mold pieces together.

Whether you’re in charge of a single component or the entire object, you also have a quality control function, as it’s your job to look for defective parts while you’re assembling them, and to test the product once it’s done in order to make sure it’s safe, complete, and working properly.

Basically, the Mechanical Assembler is the professional equivalent of an Ikea customer: You’re paid to read instructions and put stuff together.