Inspectors, Testers, Sorters, Samplers, and Weighers
Production
The work is checking raw materials and finished parts against specifications: measuring dimensions with calipers, gauges, or micrometers, reading dials and meters, and looking for wear, defects, or deviations. Items that fail get discarded or marked with a grade or accept-reject status. Reports describe the results, needed repairs, or recommended fixes, and supervisors are told when production problems show up. It suits people who like close comparison of parts to a standard, careful measurement, and clear written records of what they find.
Typical education: High School Diploma or GED
Annual Median Wage in Field (2025)
$48'570
Median Wage Market Position
$48'570
What you might do
- Inspect products and materials against written specs
- Measure parts with calipers, gauges, or micrometers
- Reject items that fail quality checks
- Mark pieces with grade or pass-fail status
- Write reports on test and inspection results
- Alert supervisors when production problems appear
Skills that matter
- Measuring parts with calipers and gauges
- Rejecting work that misses the spec
- Writing inspection and test reports
- Marking grade or accept-reject status
- Flagging production problems to others
- Recommending repairs from what you find
AI & the future of this role
Vision systems and automated gauges are well suited to many defect checks, sorting, and weighing tasks that once needed human eyes. Judgment on ambiguous failures and liability-sensitive sign-offs still matter, but much of the volume work looks exposed.
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Includes O*NET® 30.3 Database information by USDOL/ETA under CC BY 4.0; modified by LostInCareer. Wage/outlook from BLS. Attribution details