Asphalt laboratory technician to road maintenance technician
An asphalt laboratory technician already meets 20% of what the road maintenance technician role asks for. The move turns on 13 required skills not yet in the profile.
76.5/ 100
1 How much of what a road maintenance technician is expected to do is already part of an asphalt laboratory technician’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the road maintenance technician role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.
Why this move works
A road maintenance technician role treats 4 of its required skills as things an asphalt laboratory technician already does. You would walk in with these on day one.
- civil engineering
- follow health and safety procedures in construction
- inspect asphalt
- inspect construction supplies
What stands in the way is 13 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.
Table 2 · What you already bring
Of the 6 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A road maintenance technician role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an asphalt laboratory technician background worth leading with.
- already held inspect asphalt information skills
- already held asphalt mixes engineering, manufacturing and construction
- already held civil engineering engineering, manufacturing and construction
- already held set up temporary construction site infrastructure constructing
- already held inspect construction supplies information skills
- already held follow health and safety procedures in construction assisting and caring
All 6 carried skills, including the 4 the road maintenance technician role treats as required.
Table 3 · What you may need to learn
The 28 missing skills fall into 9 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.
- still to learn inspect construction sites required
- still to learn inspect paintwork required
- still to learn inspect road signs required
- still to learn keep records of work progress required
- optional, not held advise on bridge inspection optional
- optional, not held analyse road traffic patterns optional
- optional, not held estimate repair priority optional
- optional, not held monitor traffic flow optional
- still to learn interpret traffic signals required
- still to learn secure working area required
- still to learn work ergonomically required
- optional, not held regulate traffic optional
- still to learn road signage standards required
- still to learn traffic signs required
- optional, not held national road network optional
- still to learn road traffic laws required
- optional, not held construction product regulation optional
- still to learn traffic engineering required
- optional, not held types of asphalt coverings optional
- still to learn perform traffic sign maintenance required
- optional, not held use measurement instruments optional
3 further areas in the appendix
Table 4 · Where to start
The 3 entries a road maintenance technician role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.
- 01 inspect construction sites practise this
- 02 inspect paintwork practise this
- 03 inspect road signs practise this
Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.
Appendix · The rest of the record
All 6 skills that carry over
- already held civil engineering knowledge
- already held follow health and safety procedures in construction skill
- already held inspect asphalt skill
- already held inspect construction supplies skill
- already held asphalt mixes knowledge
- already held set up temporary construction site infrastructure skill
The 3 learning areas not shown above
- still to learn place temporary road signage required
- optional, not held advise on bridge replacement optional
- optional, not held work in a construction team optional
- optional, not held coordinate construction activities optional
- optional, not held design customised maps optional
- optional, not held clear accident site optional
- optional, not held carry out de-icing activities optional
15 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
- optional, not held advise on bridge inspection optional
- optional, not held advise on bridge replacement optional
- optional, not held analyse road traffic patterns optional
- optional, not held clear accident site optional
- optional, not held construction product regulation optional
- optional, not held national road network optional
- optional, not held work in a construction team optional
- optional, not held carry out de-icing activities optional
- optional, not held coordinate construction activities optional
- optional, not held design customised maps optional
- optional, not held estimate repair priority optional
- optional, not held monitor traffic flow optional
- optional, not held regulate traffic optional
- optional, not held types of asphalt coverings optional
- optional, not held use measurement instruments optional
11 held skills the road maintenance technician role does not ask for
- not needed by the target role apply safety procedures in laboratory skill
- not needed by the target role check quality of raw materials skill
- not needed by the target role conduct soil sample tests skill
- not needed by the target role construction industry knowledge
- not needed by the target role construction methods knowledge
- not needed by the target role run laboratory simulations skill
- not needed by the target role supervise laboratory operations skill
- not needed by the target role supervise site maintenance skill
- not needed by the target role test concrete skill
- not needed by the target role use safety equipment in construction skill
- not needed by the target role write inspection reports skill
7 gaps that are knowledge rather than practice
Knowledge gaps usually close through study. Practical skill gaps usually need something you can point at.
- still to learn road signage standards required
- still to learn road traffic laws required
- still to learn traffic engineering required
- still to learn traffic signs required
- optional, not held construction product regulation optional
- optional, not held national road network optional
- optional, not held types of asphalt coverings optional
Other moves recorded from asphalt laboratory technician
Common questions about this move
Can an asphalt laboratory technician become a road maintenance technician?
Yes, and it is a career change move. An asphalt laboratory technician already covers 20% of what a road maintenance technician is expected to do: 6 skills carry over, 4 of which the road maintenance technician role treats as required.
What skills does an asphalt laboratory technician need to become a road maintenance technician?
13 required skills are missing, plus 15 optional ones. They fall into 9 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by information skills. The single most important is inspect construction sites.
How hard is the move from asphalt laboratory technician to road maintenance technician?
Its learning distance is 76.5 out of 100, which is the career change band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.
How this record was compiled
Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.