Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a technician; also attrib.

1942		Yank 21 Oct. 15: They’re the same kind of tech chevrons [OED].
1953		Mag. Fantasy & Science Fiction Nov. 30: Grenville settled back, closing his eyes. "So? [...] Let the techs worry about that ’.
1977		A. Ayckbourn Ten Times Table I iii: The tech did them for us.
1984		J. Ellroy Because the Night 182: ‘The techs are doing their comparison tests now’.
1990		R. Campbell Sweet La-La Land (1999) 208: The techs are going over the crime scene.
2001		S. King Dreamcatcher 401: Now here’s stuff your med-techs don’t know.
2012		J. Fagan Panopticon (2013) 80: Anais, the lab tech’s here.
2022		G.M. Graff Watergate 90: [A] staffer from the CIA’s Technical Services Division [...] The tech went by the pseudonym ‘Steve’.